2004-05-25
Mayfield Link - Portland Tribune
A very fine twice-weekly local newspaper, the Portland Tribune covers the Mayfield story here. In 2002, the Tribune exposed the excesses of a clandestine surveillance program by the Portland Police Bureau in an award-winning series of articles.
"Why didn't somebody do something?"
THE IRAQI HOLOCAUST
The Question
My mother grew up in the 1930s and '40s, and she could always remember watching the newsreels that came out after WWII. The pictures of the death camps, and the emaciated prisoner, and the stacked bodies, and the crematoriums. She would ask aloud, "If we knew all of that was going on, why didn't we stop Hitler sooner? Why didn't somebody do something?"
We had Hitler. In our own day, in our own time, in our own generation, we had Hitler. We had Saddam Hussein. And somebody "did something": President Bush, despite strong opposition at home and abroad, overthrew the Ba'athist Reich in Iraq and captured Saddam and his henchmen.
Had the "peace movement" had its way, Saddam would still be filling those mass graves. People would still be dying slow and horrible deaths in torture chambers, women and men would still be traumatized for life by sadistic rapes and disfigurements. And yet these things have ended in Iraq, precisely because of the war that the "peace" activists so strenuously opposed.
And even now, some people are unmoved by three hundred thousand bodies in mass graves. These are the same people who would have cared nothing about dead and dying Jews in concentration camps sixty years ago. I don't get it. Do they not see Arabs and Jews as human?
The Question
My mother grew up in the 1930s and '40s, and she could always remember watching the newsreels that came out after WWII. The pictures of the death camps, and the emaciated prisoner, and the stacked bodies, and the crematoriums. She would ask aloud, "If we knew all of that was going on, why didn't we stop Hitler sooner? Why didn't somebody do something?"
We had Hitler. In our own day, in our own time, in our own generation, we had Hitler. We had Saddam Hussein. And somebody "did something": President Bush, despite strong opposition at home and abroad, overthrew the Ba'athist Reich in Iraq and captured Saddam and his henchmen.
Had the "peace movement" had its way, Saddam would still be filling those mass graves. People would still be dying slow and horrible deaths in torture chambers, women and men would still be traumatized for life by sadistic rapes and disfigurements. And yet these things have ended in Iraq, precisely because of the war that the "peace" activists so strenuously opposed.
And even now, some people are unmoved by three hundred thousand bodies in mass graves. These are the same people who would have cared nothing about dead and dying Jews in concentration camps sixty years ago. I don't get it. Do they not see Arabs and Jews as human?
"The day we found the mass grave is vivid to me still. ... "
THE IRAQI HOLOCAUST:
Memory
"We found it up near the Iranian boarder. Very quickly people came from miles and miles away. We stood and watched the family members digging up bones and clutching remains as they sat in the dirt, rocked back and forth and cried. They were adamant that we should come over and look as they dug them up. Every single body had its hands and feet wired together with ROMEX. Each skull had a bullet hole in it except for a few that were smashed with a club or rifle butt. There were clearly men but also women and children. The grave never made the news as there were no media with us and it was small by Iraq standards. One detail that I found particularly outrageous was that the assassins left the identifications on the bodies as if they were so arrogant that it never occurred that someday, someone would dig up the bodies and hold them accountable. I will never forget it."
- Quoted by Zayphar from a US serviceman's letters home. Read the whole post. Thanks to Jane.
Memory
"We found it up near the Iranian boarder. Very quickly people came from miles and miles away. We stood and watched the family members digging up bones and clutching remains as they sat in the dirt, rocked back and forth and cried. They were adamant that we should come over and look as they dug them up. Every single body had its hands and feet wired together with ROMEX. Each skull had a bullet hole in it except for a few that were smashed with a club or rifle butt. There were clearly men but also women and children. The grave never made the news as there were no media with us and it was small by Iraq standards. One detail that I found particularly outrageous was that the assassins left the identifications on the bodies as if they were so arrogant that it never occurred that someday, someone would dig up the bodies and hold them accountable. I will never forget it."
- Quoted by Zayphar from a US serviceman's letters home. Read the whole post. Thanks to Jane.
2004-05-24
Morning Report: May 24, 2004
- The three tribes fight over Iraq. (Safire/NYT) William Safire analyzes the power play behind the Chalabi raid.
- How do you tell when spies are lying? (Ledeen/NRO) Stealing a page from Safire’s script, Michael Ledeen consults with a departed counterterrorism expert on the question of Chalabi’s alleged duplicity.
- Do all roads lead to Tehran? (Ackerman/TNR) The New Republic’s Spencer Ackerman maintains that Chalabi bit off more than he could chew by courting the Iranian regime, alienating even his former supporters in Washington.
- Beyond Chalabi. (Ali / Iraq the Model) In perhaps the most sensible response to the Chalabi debacle, Ali argues that the whole affair has been given too much prominence. Chalabi’s legitimacy derived from his support for the cause of freedom; having abandoned that cause, he lost his base of support both in Iraq and in Washington. He was “just a man who had some chance to play a role in the future of Iraq and blew it away,” Ali writes. “Chalabi was not really pro-American because he was not pro-Iraqi in the first place. He was just pro-Chalabi.”
- How do you tell when spies are lying? (Ledeen/NRO) Stealing a page from Safire’s script, Michael Ledeen consults with a departed counterterrorism expert on the question of Chalabi’s alleged duplicity.
- Do all roads lead to Tehran? (Ackerman/TNR) The New Republic’s Spencer Ackerman maintains that Chalabi bit off more than he could chew by courting the Iranian regime, alienating even his former supporters in Washington.
- Beyond Chalabi. (Ali / Iraq the Model) In perhaps the most sensible response to the Chalabi debacle, Ali argues that the whole affair has been given too much prominence. Chalabi’s legitimacy derived from his support for the cause of freedom; having abandoned that cause, he lost his base of support both in Iraq and in Washington. He was “just a man who had some chance to play a role in the future of Iraq and blew it away,” Ali writes. “Chalabi was not really pro-American because he was not pro-Iraqi in the first place. He was just pro-Chalabi.”
2004-05-23
At last!
No event of recent days has been more eagerly anticipated by DiL than William Safire's Monday column, explaining the mechanics and machinations of the Chalabi raid. Safire reveals the roots of both State's and Agency's animus towards Chalabi, as well as the role of Robert Blackwill in advancing Brahimi - who demanded the withdrawal from Falluja as well as the blacklisting of Chalabi. I'm too tired to post in detail tonight, but it's worth reading.
Reader Participation: Chalabi Raid and Iran Regime
Rubin and Ledeen are furious.
Wretchard cites the Telegraph's article linking Chalabi with the UN scandal and Brahimi.
Who's right? Is Chalabi guilty as charged? Or is he the scapegoat in some power struggle?
If anyone has new information, insights, or clues about the background and implications of the Chalabi raid, I'd love to hear it. Post to comments.
Wretchard cites the Telegraph's article linking Chalabi with the UN scandal and Brahimi.
Who's right? Is Chalabi guilty as charged? Or is he the scapegoat in some power struggle?
If anyone has new information, insights, or clues about the background and implications of the Chalabi raid, I'd love to hear it. Post to comments.
Baghdad Photos
Asmar has sent in a link to this wonderful site with pictures of Baghdad. There are many photos on one page, so be advised (especially if you use low-end gear like I do) that it takes a while to load.
But it's worth the wait! There are many beautiful photographs (flowers, artwork, architecture, monuments) and some not-so-beautiful (explosion that killed GC member, Iraqi children maimed by Allied bombing). A very fine collection - please visit this site.
UPDATE: Apparently Asmar is an Iranian trying to pass as an Iraqi blogger. See Tom Villars' notice in the "Donation Info" section of ITM.
But it's worth the wait! There are many beautiful photographs (flowers, artwork, architecture, monuments) and some not-so-beautiful (explosion that killed GC member, Iraqi children maimed by Allied bombing). A very fine collection - please visit this site.
UPDATE: Apparently Asmar is an Iranian trying to pass as an Iraqi blogger. See Tom Villars' notice in the "Donation Info" section of ITM.
Morning Report: May 23, 2004
- US forces enter Kufa. (Fox) American forces battled the militia of Muqtada al-Sadr in Muqty’s stronghold of Kufa on Sunday night, with 18 known fatalities. Fox reports that there was also fighting in Najaf, but Karbala was quiet.
- Ali on “real Iraqis.” (Iraq the Model) Ali ponders the meaning of an anti-American demonstration in Lebanon, organized by Hezbollah, which drew a half-million people purportedly in solidarity with the “oppressed Iraqis”.
- Bush and the three elephants. (Belmont Club) When President Bush addresses the Army War College tomorrow (Monday), he will do so in the shadow of three “elephants in the living room”, Wretchard says. These are the unacknowledged proxy war with Syria, that with Iran, and the UN corruption scandal. The last item is the most interesting, because the BC cites a claim that Chalabi “is in possession of ... documents with the potential to expose politicians, corporations and the United Nations”. More on this angle to follow.
- Bush and the three blunders. (Ledeen/NRO) Michael Ledeen looks at events of recent weeks, and he’s not happy with what he sees. “We have adopted our enemies’ view of the world,” this article begins. Referring the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, Ledeen writes that “torture, and the belief in its efficacy, are the way our enemies think.” Fallujah was “a strategic retreat,” which will embodeden our enemies to attack us again – while some “crackpot realists” in the military and senior officials in State and Defense propose adopting the “Fallujah model” in the future. Finally, Ledeen says that Chalabi was “an Iraqi leader of unquestioned democratic convictions”, who was seen as a threat by both our enemies and the CIA and State Department, precisely for that reason: “he is independent and while he is happy to work with [CIA and State], he will not work for them.” Ledeen argues that only a firm commitment to democratic ideals, and not appeasement (or emulation) of our enemies, will win this war.
- Arab summit: road to nowhere? (Debka) As reported here on May 4, the Arab League looks to be headed for the dustbin of history. The summit, finally getting off the ground in Tunis after being rescheduled, is proving to be less than the impressive show of unity its supporters might have hoped for. Debka now reports that only 13 of 22 leaders showed up, and Libya’s Moammar Qaddafi walked out after a half-hour.
- Ali on “real Iraqis.” (Iraq the Model) Ali ponders the meaning of an anti-American demonstration in Lebanon, organized by Hezbollah, which drew a half-million people purportedly in solidarity with the “oppressed Iraqis”.
- Bush and the three elephants. (Belmont Club) When President Bush addresses the Army War College tomorrow (Monday), he will do so in the shadow of three “elephants in the living room”, Wretchard says. These are the unacknowledged proxy war with Syria, that with Iran, and the UN corruption scandal. The last item is the most interesting, because the BC cites a claim that Chalabi “is in possession of ... documents with the potential to expose politicians, corporations and the United Nations”. More on this angle to follow.
- Bush and the three blunders. (Ledeen/NRO) Michael Ledeen looks at events of recent weeks, and he’s not happy with what he sees. “We have adopted our enemies’ view of the world,” this article begins. Referring the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, Ledeen writes that “torture, and the belief in its efficacy, are the way our enemies think.” Fallujah was “a strategic retreat,” which will embodeden our enemies to attack us again – while some “crackpot realists” in the military and senior officials in State and Defense propose adopting the “Fallujah model” in the future. Finally, Ledeen says that Chalabi was “an Iraqi leader of unquestioned democratic convictions”, who was seen as a threat by both our enemies and the CIA and State Department, precisely for that reason: “he is independent and while he is happy to work with [CIA and State], he will not work for them.” Ledeen argues that only a firm commitment to democratic ideals, and not appeasement (or emulation) of our enemies, will win this war.
- Arab summit: road to nowhere? (Debka) As reported here on May 4, the Arab League looks to be headed for the dustbin of history. The summit, finally getting off the ground in Tunis after being rescheduled, is proving to be less than the impressive show of unity its supporters might have hoped for. Debka now reports that only 13 of 22 leaders showed up, and Libya’s Moammar Qaddafi walked out after a half-hour.
2004-05-20
That Wedding Party
Washington: US helicopter strike alleged to have struck wedding party was directed against safe house in al Qaim 25 km from Syrian border occupied by foreign Arab fighters infiltrating Iraq from Syria, who fired at helicopter. Coalition ground forces found quantities of explosives, foreign passports, 2 m Iraqi and Syria dinars and satcom radio. Iraqi sources claimed more than 40 killed. International Red Cross condemns US military for using excessive force in incident.
- source: Debka
- source: Debka
2004-05-17
Apocalypse Averted
A Small Victory reports that, contrary to some expectations, the world did not come to an end as a result of a certain development in Massachussetts.
Imagine my relief.
Imagine my relief.
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