The 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War was a milestone. For a lot of us, it is the generational moment. It was the topic on campus, if not always the focus of the news. In fact, the more complicated the war got, the less interested the media became.
As early as January 2005, we were seeing the problem. Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and I were journalism students who spent the bulk of fall 2004 -- especially after John Kerry lost the election -- appalled by the press. The one thing that gave us hope was a new site called The Common Ills.
As we watched C.I. repeatedly catch and cover what other people missed or refused to call out (like Dexy Filkins lies about the assault on Falluja, an 8 day old story when it made the front page of The New York Times and only C.I. called out the military vetting of that story before publication), we knew it was time to get online with something other than comments left at various sites.
It's been eight years now of this site. Hard to believe.
Last week, Betty wrote "Iraq and Third" reflecting on some of the stuff that she's helped write here and I really enjoyed reading that. People think we're sitting around all day talking about, "Remember in December 2006, when we wrote . . ."
I'm a father of a small child (Dona's the mother of one), Jess and Ava have a daughter as well, Ty's got a very busy career (not job, career, he's going to be running a movie studio one day, mark my words), and we just don't have that kind of time.
We're more likely to talk about that and wonder if it's time to step down?
From the beginning, Ava and C.I. have been willing to step down and wanting to. But I've been one of the voices saying, "No, let's keep on."
More and more, I see less need.
The main thing that motivates me right now is that if we go dark, who calls out Barack from the left?
Who can call out empire and honestly say, "We called it out under Bully Boy Bush and we called it out under Barack!"
There are a few who can say that outside this community but it is only a few.
Even at this late date, it's still only a few.
And we've done it every week. Honestly, if a Republican were in the White House, we could fold up our tent and go home. That's because if a Republican were in charge, he'd be loudly called out by all segments of the left.
We kind of saw that last week.
With the Iraq coverage.
As people showed up to call out Bush.
But had not a word to say about Barack.
Let me quote the March 12th snapshot because that goes to why Barack needs to be called out:
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Adam Entous, Julian E. Barnes and Siobhan Gorman's "CIA Ramps Up Role in Iraq" (Wall St. Journal) went up late last night:
In a series of secret decisions from 2011 to late 2012, the White House directed the CIA to provide support to Iraq's Counterterrorism Service, or CTS, a force that reports directly to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, officials said.
The CIA has since ramped up its work with the CTS -- taking control of a mission long run by the U.S. military, according to administration and defense officials. For years, U.S. special-operations forces worked with CTS against al Qaeda in Iraq. But the military's role has dwindled since U.S. troops pulled out of the country at the end of 2011.
Previously, December 12, 2011 on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams, Ted Koppel reported who would remain in Iraq after the drawdown:
MR. KOPPEL: I realize you can't go into it in any detail,
but I would assume that there is a healthy CIA mission here. I would
assume that JSOC may still be active in this country, the joint special
operations. You've got FBI here. You've got DEA here. Can, can you
give me sort of a, a menu of, of who all falls under your control?
AMB. JAMES JEFFREY: You're actually doing pretty well, were I authorized to talk about half of this stuff.
September 25, 2012, Tim Arango (New York Times) reported:
Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions. At the request of the Iraqi government, according to General [Robert L.] Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence.
Negotiating an agreement? We covered that agreement. It was finalized December 6, 2012 (and it's posted in full in that day's snapshot). It's the Memorandum of Understanding For Defense Cooperation Between the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Iraq and the Department of Defense of the United States of America.
We addressed its meaning at length in the December 10th and the December 11th snapshots. John Glaser (Antiwar.com) points out today:
Most Americans have been led to believe that all US forces besides those guarding the massive American Embassy in Iraq have been withdrawn since the end of last year.
In reality, US Special Operations Forces as well as the CIA have been providing this support to these elite Iraqi forces that report directly to the increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. They have essentially been used as a secret police force for Maliki to attack, detain, and torture his political opponents and crack down harshly on public dissent.
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End of excerpt.
You get it?
The Iraq War is not a past thing. And Barack continues to pull the wool over so many people's eyes.
But you didn't read that in the EZ Bake columns of last week. (Remember, we warned you they were coming last Sunday in "How to write an Iraq anniversary column*.") Instead, you read about vile and disgusting Bush.
I agree he is vile and disgusting. I also agree that is so Barack Obama.
One of the most ridiculous e-mails this past week was from a guy who read some dingy report online about the Iraq coverage. In it, the writer talked about how Iraqis were missing from it -- valid point. But the e-mailer grabbed that and turned it into an attack on The Common Ills insisting that the writer was talking about TCI and that TCI had refused to allow Iraqis to be heard.
I couldn't stop laughing. Unlike the bulk of Americans (including me), C.I. reads Arabic. She goes through ten Iraqi newspapers in Arabic a day online, she goes to various Arabic social websites each day. That alone ensures that Iraqis are being heard at TCI. She also quotes Iraqis and did so throughout the last two weeks when it came to the topic of the state of Iraq. I don't know how you miss that if you really read.
Time and again, last week, C.I. informed you of what was going on, what was being said:
One story that's been picked up in Iraqi media this week -- for example, Al Rafidayn carries it here -- but largely ignored in the western media is that $138 billion is the amount the US and foreign companies brought in from reconstruction projects. KBR got the most with $72 billion. The story first appeared Tuesday in the Financial Times of London.
And if you look over even just the last week, C.I. covered Iraq today, she covered the protests and the protesters, she covered the issue of journalists (including Hadi al-Mahdi), she covered the issue of war resisters, she covered counter-insurgency, she covered the VA hearing and so much more. Which is why she's really tired of it and I do understand that.
Two Saturdays ago, in the early morning hours, I participated in "Iraq Roundtable," "Iraq roundtable," "Talking Iraq roundtable," "The roundtable on Iraq." "a roundtable on iraq," "Iraq," "Roundtable on Iraq," "A roundtable on Iraq," "The Iraq Roundtable," "The Iraq Roundtable," "Iraq Roundtable," "Talking Iraq Roundtable," "Talking Iraq" and "THIS JUST IN! IRAQ!" with C.I., Ava, Trina, Betty, Ann, Rebecca, Ruth, Kat, Marcia, Stan, Isaiah, Elaine, Mike, Cedric and Wally.
How come?
We never stop learning and the topic were the main reasons.
On the learning, C.I. was going to moderate. When she moderates a discussion it moves along quickly and stays on focus. Reading them, I always marvel and ask later, "What got edited out?" Nothing. There was a roundtable where Elaine and Mike's affair almost came out. They hadn't told anyone about it and it had been going on for months. C.I. knew. And when Mike was hinting about it, C.I. just changed the topic, boom. And that's how she handles things that would be edited out in the roundtables I moderate here.
So I wanted to hear how she did it. That was one reason.
I also wanted to take her approach where I wouldn't say much and, at the end, I'd sum the discussion up. When I moderate here, that's what she usually does arguing she has her own space (TCI) and doesn't need to weigh in as much here. She'd rather let others speak. Then, at the end, I usually toss to her and she says something that, I think, brings another level to the discussion.
Well I tried that. Even if you're very generous, you won't be able to argue I did more than try. I certainly didn't succeed. Which is okay, That's part of learning.
And so is knowing when to go.
I don't think we're there yet though, more often these days, I wish we were.