GI Special:

thomasfbarton@earthlink.net

3.8.06

Print it out: color best.  Pass it on.

 

GI SPECIAL 4C8:

 

 

 

THE TORTURE AND PROSTITUTION OF

FORT LEWIS

 

 

From: Monica Benderman

Sent: March 07, 2006 6:13 PM

Subject: Kevin Benderman and the Ft. Lewis RCF

 

The attached article is addressing issues faced by inmates at the Ft. Lewis Regional Corrections Facility in Wash. state.

 

This is the facility where Kevin Benderman is currently serving a 15 month sentence for filing a Conscientious Objector application as his refusal to return to this war.  Sworn testimony shows that his command gave 5 different sworn statements regarding the handling of his application, and yet Kevin is the one serving time. 

 

Kevin had the moral courage to say NO to war: the command, and those serving as guards at the facility where he is confined for doing so have no idea what morals are.

 

It's time to show them that we will accept nothing less than a return to a higher standard in our treatment of human beings. 

 

These commanders will not change unless they are made to realize that they have no other choice. 

 

Every day, Kevin stands to them and tells them he will not follow their commands simply because they say he must.  He will follow legal orders, and he will follow orders that are founded in sound principles, but he will not allow himself or others around him to be stepped on by commanders who simply enjoy the illusion of power, with no sense how to lead men.

 

Kevin did this in Iraq, calling immoral orders into question and writing to his Congressional Representatives to investigate these orders. 

 

He did this in his unit at Ft. Stewart, holding them to account for their actions against other soldiers in his unit, following regulations in requesting that his rights be respected, while his command broke every regulation they could; frustrating his command to the point that they manipulated evidence in a military court martial simply to get Kevin to go away.

 

He continues to maintain his standards, and expectations at the RCF at Ft. Lewis: the inmates there may have made mistakes, and while they must pay the consequences, it does not mean that they must lose their human rights.

 

If we do not stand for our humanity - what is left???

 

Thank you for continuing to support us.

 

In Peace

Monica and Kevin Benderman

 

http://bendermandefensetrust.blog.com/

www.BendermanDefense.org

www.BendermanTimeline.com

 

******************************************************

 

3/7/2006 By Tom Scott. Choice America Network.com, Part 2

 

The Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) has a regulation for every action that might be encountered by a member of the US military.  There are regulations governing every aspect of military life from the time a soldier enlists until after he has left the service.  The UCMJ covers not only activities for daily life, but for combat, disciplinary actions allowed by commanders, and for regulating the military prison systems.

 

The Regional Corrections Facility at Ft. Lewis has 225 inmates, all were convicted of their crime in a military court martial; all were soldiers in the US Army.  This facility is one of many in the military penal system, and there are several federal prisons which also house inmates once convicted of crimes while serving in the military. 

 

The role of the guard staff and the command, it seems, is to do everything within their power to hide the truth, not to encourage rehabilitation of the inmates.  It doesn't seem to be to provide counseling for inmates who suffer from emotional or psychological disorders; inmates were told that such counseling could not be provided as the money for these programs was needed to fund the war.

 

The role of the guard and command at the RCF seems to be to do very little to positively affect the rehabilitation of the inmates in their control and to hide that fact whenever it is brought into question. 

 

From all accounts, it seems the role of the staff is to make every effort to prevent the 507th MP Brigade from ever “looking bad,” but not by training its members to follow the rules. 

 

The command has actually instructed its unit members to say nothing, to report nothing, to talk to no one in an effort to ensure that no one ever learn of all the mistakes this unit has made because it has never been adequately trained to follow the regulations. 

 

Who is there to train them when those in command publicly state that they do not have to follow the regulations, and they do not care what the regulations say? 

 

An 18 yr old attempted suicide late last fall.  He is an inmate at the Regional Corrections Facility, at Ft. Lewis, Washington. 

 

His reasons?  He was overweight and ridiculed by guards and inmates alike, and the pressure of the emotional games took its toll. 

 

How could this have happened in a “Corrections facility” where the very regulations that the military uses to govern state that counselors must be in place, that inmates must be evaluated by these counselors and by the prison chaplain? 

 

It happens because for 225 inmates, there is a chaplain, a chaplain’s assistant and 2, yes TWO, counselors. 

 

 

SFC Parham once served as the enlisted man in charge of the prisoners’ affairs.  He has now been promoted to First Sgt. of the 507th MP Brigade.  While still managing the affairs of the prisoners, SFC Parham told the prisoners that he was not going to allow them to have educational opportunities while serving time, violating their rights according to the US military regulations governing Corrections facilities. 

 

SFC Parham seemed to think that his only responsibility was to see that the inmates served their sentence, nothing more. 

 

While several inmates have repeatedly requested that they be allowed to participate in correspondence courses and distance learning programs as a way to help prepare them for making a positive contribution to their communities and for their families upon their release, none of these requests have been granted.  At this CORRECTIONS facility, education doesn't matter. 

 

There is, however, a female specialist who serves her 507th MP unit by working in the Education office at the RCF, where no education programs are offered. 

 

Could it be SFC Parham’s solution for seeing that this Specialist’s behavior does not cast a bad light on her unit?   By assigning this female soldier to duty as the non-existent education facilitator, she has very little contact with the inmates.  Wise move by the man in charge of prisoner affairs, in light of the fact that this female was caught on more than one occasion giving out sexual favors on the back steps to inmates who asked.  . 

 

Heaven forbid: we certainly don't want this unit to look bad.

 

There are several inmates who have written to their congressional representatives regarding abuses they have faced at the hands of the command at this RCF who does not think the UCMJ matters. 

 

When the military liaisons of these Congressional offices write inquiries to the facility, they get responses.  The responses say that the inmates and their family members are lying, that they are making the stories up.  The command responds with half-truths, and the actions they take at the RCF are clearly meant to prevent anyone from ever being able to learn the truth. 

 

Inmates are required to submit requests for actions, including calls to their attorneys, calls to their congressional representatives, visits from family members, visits to support groups, and chaplains: all requests must be submitted on forms that go through the RCF counseling office. 

 

There is no written documentation of any of these requests until the counseling office completes one of these forms.  Inmates can request a form from the counseling office for days before one is given.  There is NO documentation of these verbal requests, so the command conveniently gives the appearance that the inmates never really try to seek help.  Isn’t it time for the command to tell the truth? 

 

Inmates are given Disciplinary and Adjustment statements for every action the guard and command believe goes against the “authority” they demand.

 

D and A statements are filed for not standing properly, not speaking properly, not looking in the right direction:  and, yes, some are given for valid reasons, most inmates have committed crimes, and many do require disciplinary action. 

 

Who sees that the command receives disciplinary action for their violations?? 

 

Warden Ennice Hobbes is one of three personnel who sit on the D and A Board to determine the disciplinary action to be given for infractions.   Mr. Hobbes is a civilian and inmates have submitted statements addressing the fact that he has signed many of the D and A decisions as the President of this board. 

 

The regulations for Military Corrections require that the President of the board be a member of the military, E-8 or above.(DOD 190-47, pg. 73, Ch. 12, para. 2) 

 

Those responsible for providing the proper support to inmates who are at a facility so that their actions are “corrected” and they may return as productive members of society, ARE NOT FOLLOWING THE LAWS.  Who cares?

 

SFC "CD" is now the NCO responsible for prisoner concerns at the RCF.  He has made it clear that he does not care about the regulations; “what I say, goes.” 

 

There is a group of 20+ inmates now being confined to a single bay (Echo Bay) for disciplinary restriction, as ordered by the D and A Board on which Mr. Hobbes served in violation of the rules.  These inmates are spending their days doing absolutely nothing – most for 30 days or more.  What exactly will this correct? 

 

The regulations state that commanders will not use mail as a disciplinary measure.(DOD 190-47, pg. 69, Ch. 12, para. 4) SFC "CD" doesn’t care.  The inmates in the Loss of Privilege Bay are not allowed telephones, television, magazines, books; they cannot play games, there is no exercise, and no time outside.  They cannot write letters, they cannot receive mail: a violation of the regulations.  WHO CARES? 

 

 

Of significance in this situation is the fact that the inmate was assaulted as a result of his going to the block guard commander as the representative of his block to complain about a XXX-rated movie being shown in the bay, the choice of the guards.

 

It seems that greater moral character was displayed by the married inmates who requested not to have such a movie shown, while the guards, part of the unit that, according to regulations, was to ensure rehabilitation and promote positive moral growth in these inmates before releasing them back to their communities, actually assaulted an inmate for voicing his complaint about such a movie and refused to turn the movie off. 

 

There is another guard from this facility who was caught at home, by his wife, in relations with another woman, a female guard, also at the RCF.   Angry at being caught, this man physically assaulted his wife.   The county sheriff’s office transported this man to the MP Brigade to which he was assigned.   They assured the sheriff’s office that they would handle it.   The guards both were given time off until things cooled down.   Nothing more was done.  WHO CARES? 

 

What makes Americans believe that we should be out saving the world? 

 

What makes Americans believe that we must look to Iraq, Iran, India, Afghanistan, Cuba, Venezuela, and a host of other countries to find human rights abuses to confront, and violations of the rules of law to set straight?   Why are we spending money on global peace conferences, and human rights events? 

 

The issues presented here are just the tip of the iceberg: an iceberg that exists in our own house.     America: WHEN WILL YOU ACTUALLY CARE??????? 

 

 

 

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

 

Britons Burned To Death In Car After Basra Gun Battle

 

7 Mar 2006 The Scotsman

 

TWO British men were burned to death in their car after a shoot out with police in Iraq yesterday.  A third person in the car, also believed to be British, was wounded and rushed away from the scene, in the southern city of Basra. Police Captain Mushtaq Kadhim said Iraqi policemen and two other civilians were also wounded in the shooting.

 

A Foreign Office spokesman said he was aware of unsubstantiated reports of an incident involving non-Arabs.  The Ministry of Defence said it was aware of reports of an incident in Basra and was making inquiries.  A ministry spokesman said no British military personnel had been involved in any incident or injured yesterday.

 

According to Mr Kadhim, the attack occurred about 9pm local time after a police patrol chased two suspicious cars and forced them to stop in the Jazaer neighbourhood of central Basra.

 

U.S. Patrol Hit By Baghdad Car Bomb:

Casualties Not Announced

 

3.7.06 DPA

 

In Khadra neighbourhood in western Baghdad, a car bomb targeting a passing US damaged the US vehicle.

 

US troops sealed off the area and prevented journalists from approaching the site of the blast.

 

“The IEDs Are Getting Bigger, And The Bad Guys Are Getting More Sophisticated”

 

03/07/2006 By Kevin Cullen, BOSTON GLOBE

 

MOSUL, Iraq: The triggering device, a thin, plastic intravenous tube, was stretched taut across the road, invisible to the naked eyes in the approaching U.S. Army convoy.

 

According to U.S. soldiers, as the first armored vehicle drove over the tubing, liquid was squeezed up the IV line to the detonator of an improvised explosive device, or IED, which was buried under the road.  The delayed explosion ripped through the middle of the convoy, hurling a 35-ton Bradley Fighting Vehicle 40 feet into the air and killing five American soldiers inside it.

 

Army Sgt. Shane Roy, who helped secure the scene in northwest Iraq four months ago, said the attackers had used a 2,000-pound bomb, underscoring something he had noticed over the past year in Iraq.

 

"The IEDs are getting bigger, and the bad guys are getting more sophisticated when it comes to setting these things off," Roy said.

 

Other U.S. soldiers, and doctors treating the wounded, agree that IEDs, which early in the insurgency were crude weapons more likely to maim than kill, have evolved to the point that they can take out the most heavily armored vehicles in the U.S. arsenal.

 

According to figures compiled by Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, a nonprofit research group that analyzes information supplied by the Pentagon, IEDs killed 407 U.S. forces last year, more than twice as many as the 197 killed in 2004.

 

The proportion of U.S. military deaths caused by IEDs rose from less than a quarter in 2004 to nearly half of the 846 U.S. fatalities last year.

 

In October, IEDs killed 57 soldiers, the most in any month of the war.

 

U.S. troops and insurgents have engaged in a lethal game of cat and mouse: As U.S. forces have become adept at spotting or disarming devices, the insurgents have refined their tactics.

 

Soldiers say they had seen a recent surge in innovative triggering devices such as the IV line, which does not rely on transmitted signals.

 

That could be a response to the success of a U.S. device called a Warlock, which jams radio and cellphone signals that insurgents have used to trigger bombs.

 

According to military officials, insurgents have increased their use of twin pressure plates, buried just below a road's surface and spaced far enough apart or triggered so that a regular-sized civilian car will not detonate the bomb, but heavy U.S. military vehicles, such as Bradleys, Humvees, Abrams tanks and Strykers will.

 

Cpl. Jessi McCormick, part of a Marines Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, said the insurgents have become more devious in concealing IEDs, often luring troops in or lulling them into a false sense of security.

 

She wears on her wrist a metal bracelet that bears grim testimony to that observation: the name of another noncommissioned officer, Master Sergeant Brett E. Angus.

 

On Nov. 26, near Taqaddum, Angus, 40, had managed to use a robot to dispose of three roadside IEDs.  He was bending over a fourth one when it was detonated by remote control.

 

"Someone was watching," said McCormick, a Mississippi native who is one of a handful of female Marines whose job it is to clear bombs.

 

McCormick, 21, said she noticed a difference between her first combat tour of Iraq, from August 2004 to March 2005, and her second tour, which began last August.

 

"Everything was a command wire before," she said. "Someone had to set it off."

 

Command wires force the bomber to be relatively close, which increases the chances of the bomber being caught, wounded, or killed by the device. 

 

Now, with more bombs being set off remotely or by hidden triggering devices, the bombs can be bigger, and fewer bombers are being captured or killed.

 

On Dec. 1, a group of Marines was decimated by a bunch of artillery shells strung together and buried in an abandoned flour factory that the Marines had taken over as a patrol base outside Fallujah: 10 Marines were killed and 11 were wounded by the blast, which was set off when one of the Marines stepped on a buried pressure plate.

 

"The pressure plate that set it off was as big as my thumbnail," McCormick said, saying the miniature size of that triggering device was evidence of growing sophistication among the insurgents.

 

Many soldiers voice unease over what they see as a simultaneous increase in the sophistication of IEDs and the training of Iraqi forces by US troops on how to combat IEDs.

 

As the US military tries to hand off more of its responsibilities to the Iraqi military and police forces, US soldiers say it is impossible to know whether the Iraqi forces they are training are infiltrated by insurgents, or include those who can be pressured to impart information to insurgents.

 

Dr. Guillermo J. Tellez, chief of surgery at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where wounded US soldiers are evacuated from Iraq, said surgeons there have noticed in the past year the wounds from IEDs are more traumatic.

 

"It's the size" of the bombs, he said. "They've just gotten bigger."

 

Dr. Jonathan C. Lohrbach, an Air Force major who treats US soldiers on medical evacuation flights, said there has been a noticeable increase in the seriousness of those wounds in the last year.

 

Early in the insurgency, he said, IEDs posed a great threat to extremities; now, because of their size, they are as often causing brain injuries, even when shrapnel does not penetrate soldiers' heads.  He has also seen more burns, as insurgents add incendiaries to IEDs.

 

"The insurgents are getting more sophisticated weapons, which cause more catastrophic injuries," he said.

 

IMPOSSIBLE MISSION

FUTILE EXERCISE

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW!

US soldier at the site of an insurgent attack on an oil pipeline near al-Taji area, north of Baghdad.  (AFP/US ARMY-HO/1st Class Michael Larson)

 

 

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

 

 

Silly Marine General Says Revived Afghan Insurgency Isn't Likely

 

3.7.06 Washington Post

 

The commander of NATO forces said that rising attacks in Afghanistan will test NATO troops as the alliance expands into the volatile southern regions of the country this summer, but he stressed that al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels lack the ability to reignite a major rebellion.

 

Marine Gen. James L. Jones, NATO's supreme allied commander, played down an increase in violence, saying remnants of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in pockets of the country cannot "restart an insurgency of any size and major scope."  [The death rate for U.S. forces in Afghanistan is higher than Iraq.  So, either the asshole General is an exceptionally stupid liar, or he’s completely ignorant of the battlefield reality where he commands.  For the prize, a trip to Afghanistan for one year, which would be worse?]

 

Meanwhile, Back In The Real World:

 

3.7.06 Boston Globe

 

UN Engineer Dragged From Car, Fatally Shot

 

Taliban militia fatally shot a United Nations engineer in western Afghanistan during the weekend, police said.  Mohammad Hashim was killed Saturday in the Bala Buluk district of Farah Province.

 

 

TROOP NEWS

 

 

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

The coffin containing Army Chief Warrant Officer Two, Isaias Santos Luzcando at his burial ceremony in Corozal, Panama City, Panama, Jan. 6, 2006.  Luzcando was born in Panama City to a Panamanian mother and an American Father and joined the US Army in 1995. (AP Photo/Tito Herrera)

 

Rumsfeld Proves He’s Crazy As A Shit-House Rat:

Accuses Iranian Infiltrators Of Doing Bad Things, Then Says He Doesn’t Know What Bad Things They’re Doing

 

March 07, 2006 By Robert Burns, Associated Press

 

Raising a new complaint about Iran, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday accused Tehran of dispatching elements of the elite Revolutionary Guard to stir trouble inside Iraq.

 

“They are currently putting people into Iraq to do things that are harmful to the future of Iraq,” he told a Pentagon news conference, “and we know it.  And it is something that they, I think, will look back on as having been an error in judgment.”

 

He initially said the infiltrators were doing “things that are harmful to the future of Iraq,” but later when asked specifically whether they were gathering intelligence or fomenting violence Rumsfeld said he did not know what their mission was.

 

Military Survey Results:

60% Say Get Rid Of Rumsfeld;

49 % Rate Pentagon Senior Civilian Leaders As “Poor” Or “Awful”

 

 

March 06, 2006 By Thomas Raleigh, Army Times [Excerpts]

 

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld appears to be at odds with a great number of those in uniform with his recent insistence that the force remains strong, despite reports that suggest the Army is approaching the breaking point because of extended combat deployments and has become a “thin green line,” in the words of retired Col. Andrew Krepinevich, a Washington military analyst.

 

That conclusion emerges from a “command climate” survey of the Defense Department that I proposed several months ago on this page, and which Army Times subsequently conducted online.

 

Still, the results are interesting. 

 

For example, 54 percent of respondents cited force exhaustion as a “concern”; another 22 percent called it a “big concern.”

 

On the global war on terrorism, 37 percent say we’re on the wrong track; another 23 percent have doubts that we’re on the right track.

 

Other highlights:

 

Competence of senior civilian leaders: The survey included several questions designed to get a feel for the quality and inclusiveness of decision-making in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.  Only a few respondents work in the Pentagon, and no flag officer responded, so it’s safe to say these responses reflect respondents’ impressions.

 

That said, 49 percent rated the overall competence of Pentagon senior civilian leaders as “poor” or “awful”; less than 27 percent rated it “excellent” or “good.”

 

State of the force: An overwhelming 77 percent of respondents cited “force exhaustion” as either a concern or a “big” concern.

 

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: Those who suggest Rumsfeld enjoys the unqualified support of the troops will find nothing in this survey to back that up; about 60 percent of all respondents said he should go.

 

There is no shortage of politicians and opinion makers who suggest one cannot voice concerns about the war and other defense matters and still claim to support the troops.

 

I’ve heard at least one commentator claim that doing so is “intellectually dishonest,” a proposition I consider rubbish.

 

The survey indicates soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines at all levels are participating in a vigorous and substantive discussion on the health of the force, transformation, “the long war,” our goals and strategy in Iraq and, surely now, what to do about Iran.

 

South Korean Troop Cut In Iraq To Begin In April

 

03.05.2006 (AFX)

 

South Korea's planned one-third cut in its military in Iraq will begin next month, a military general in charge of South Korean troops in the Middle East told Yonhap news agency.

 

South Korea's parliament approved a defense ministry plan in December to reduce its 3,200 troops in the northern Iraqi town of Arbil to 2,300 this year.

 

South Korean troops have represented the third largest contingent in the US-led allied forces in Iraq, being exceeded only by the US and British.

 

The Seoul government, however, has been under pressure to pull out its troops since the execution of a South Korean translator by Islamic militants in Iraq in June 2004.

 

RSVP: TAMPA BAY RALLY FOR PEACE

 

Three Years Too Long

 

SUNDAY, MARCH 19 From 11 AM To 2 PM:

Joe Chillura Courthouse Square

Morgan St  And East Kennedy Blvd,

Tampa, Florida

 

From: Jay Alexander ayalexus@yahoo.com

To: GI Special

Sent: March 07, 2006

Subject: TAMPA BAY RALLY FOR PEACE

 

In order to commemorate the 3rd anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, an action that the Bush administration deemed "mission accomplished" just weeks afterwards, peace advocates, religious leaders, and activists representing a wide variety of constituencies will gather for an afternoon of picnicking, speeches, singing, poetry and information sharing, with a live phone call broadcast to all from Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan.

 

BUSH IS COMING TO ATLANTA!

 

WE SAY NO TO BUSH

AND HIS AGENDA!

 

JOIN US!

 

THURS., MARCH 9 4:00–6:30

GEORGIA CONVENTION CENTER

2000 Convention Center Concourse, Atlanta 30337

Near the airport; just off Camp Creek Parkway

 

TWO EASY WAYS TO GET THERE—JUST 15 MIN. FROM TOWN:

 

1)     Carpool from the Candler Park MARTA Station.  Be there and ready to go at 3:30 pm.

 

2)     Drive directly to the Convention Center:

 

Take I 85 South;

Take Exit 72 toward ATLANTA AIRPORT/CAMP CREEK PKWY;

Continue straight toward airport for .4 miles;

Exit onto CAMP CREEK PKWY for .6 miles;

Turn left onto Convention Center Concourse road.;

Bear right into the Convention Center parking lot—$5 to park.

 

Bush is coming to speak at a GOP fund-raiser to Republicans who pay $1,000 to hear his lies.

 

OUR PLAN: WE WILL PAY $5 TO PARK IN THE CONVENTION LOT AND WALK OUT TO CAMP CREEK PARKWAY.

 

OUR GOAL IS TO BE VISIBLE TO CAR TRAFFIC ON CAMP CREEK PKWY, TO REPUBLICANS COMING IN, AND TO THE MEDIA. 

 

BRING YOUR SIGNS AND BANNERS!

THE MEDIA WILL BE THERE!

 

SEE YOU THERE!

 

Cop Who Tried To Murder Active Duty Soldier Finally Arrested But Still Walking Around Loose

 

[Thanks to Phil G, who sent this in.]

 

3.7.06 CNN

 

A sheriff's deputy who was videotaped shooting an unarmed Iraq War veteran after a car chase will be charged with attempted voluntary manslaughter, authorities said Tuesday.

 

The decision to charge Deputy Ivory J. Webb, 45, was announced by San Bernardino, California, County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos.

 

Ramos said that sheriff's deputy Webb's belief that he was in danger was unreasonable in the eyes of the law.  He said Webb's gunshots were "intended to kill" Air Force security officer Elio Carrion.

 

Webb also faces weapons charges in the case, which stems from a car chase with police on January 29.

 

Carrion, who spent six months in Iraq and who had only recently returned to the United States when the shooting occurred, spent several days in the hospital and is recovering at home from his injuries.

 

An attorney representing the family of Elio Carrion angrily criticized prosecutors or filing manslaughter charges, saying the deputy should have been charged with attempted murder.

 

"I am very disappointed because the charges did not fit the crime," said attorney Luis Carrillo. "The deputy was trying to kill him."

 

Attorney Carrillo, who specializes in police abuse cases, said the shooting of an active U.S. military veteran is "one of the worst insults to citizens who protect the nation's homeland".

 

"As you can see in the videotape, he ordered Mr. Carrion to stand up, then changed his position and aimed at his heart ," Carillo said.  "The only reason Mr. Carrion stood up is because he was ordered to."

 

Carillo added, "They charged him with a watered down version of a malicious crime.  Anybody else would have been locked up in jail."

 

Webb, who's been with the department for nine years, remains on paid administrative leave until the investigation is complete.

 

Charging Webb was a "difficult decision," Ramos told the AP, but enhancing the videotape "made our decision easier."

 

In the tape, Carrion appears to be on the ground while a deputy sheriff stands above him with a gun drawn.

 

"Get up!" the deputy shouts.

 

"OK," Carrion says.

 

"Get up!" the deputy shouts again.

 

"I'm going to get up," Carrion says and starts to rise.

 

The deputy fires three shots, striking Carrion in the chest, leg and shoulder.

 

From the ground, a moaning Carrion attempts to explain to the deputy he is an Iraq war veteran. "I mean you no harm," he says.

 

"Shut the ... up!" the deputy shouts. "Shut the ... up!"

 

The deputy shouts that he had "one down," then again told Carrion to "shut the ... up."

 

"You don't get up!" he says.

 

Then the voice of a neighbor watching the incident can be heard saying, "You told him to get up!"

 

Imperial Idiot At Work:

U.S. Army Col. Daniel Barreto Tells Bolivian Government Who Their Military Commander Should Be:

They Tell Him To Go Fuck Himself

 

March 07, 2006 By Carlos Valdez, Associated Press

 

LA PAZ, Bolivia:

 

President Evo Morales on Monday accused the U.S. government of trying to intimidate Bolivia by announcing it would cut some aid because of a disagreement over the appointment of a military commander.

 

Bolivia’s armed forces received a letter from U.S. officials saying the United States was cutting about half a million dollars in funding for Bolivia’s anti-terrorist unit, Morales said in a speech.

 

“We cannot accept threats and intimidation of our armed forces,” Morales said. “It’s not possible that external forces come to change commanders and ministers.”

 

Morales, who took office Jan. 22, called the U.S. aid “crumbs” used to “control Bolivia, to have intelligence agents.”

 

The Bolivian government released the letter sent March 3 by U.S. Army Col. Daniel Barreto, but it did not identify the commander in question.

 

“Due to a recent change in the unit commander ... the U.S. armed forces feel that our armies no longer share the same vision, making it necessary the de-certification of the Anti-Terrorist Force,” Barreto wrote.

 

Tillman Inquiry Extends To Army Cover-Up

 

3.7.06 Arizona Republic

 

The Defense Department will investigate allegations of an Army cover-up in the shooting death in Afghanistan of Cpl. Pat Tillman, the Pentagon said.

 

MORE:

 

Tillman's Own Feelings About The War In Afghanistan?

“You Know," He Told A Close Army Buddy, “This War Is So Fucking Illegal”

 

March 7, 2006 by Pierre Tristam, Daytona Beach News Journal

 

Aryanism's spokeswoman, Ann Coulter, called Tillman "an American original: virtuous, pure and masculine like only an American male can be," and claimed that Tillman "died bringing freedom and democracy to 28 million Afghans."

 

His funeral was on national television, his death still being sold as a hero’s death from enemy fire.  And Bush was on the Arizona Cardinals' stadium Jumbotron telling a congregation all about Tillman's "inspiration on and off the field."

 

That was before the San Francisco Chronicle's investigation brought to light the military's lies about Tillman’s killing, its shoddy investigations and Tillman's own feelings about the war in Afghanistan: "You know," he told a close army buddy, "this war is so fucking illegal."

 

He was against Bush.  He was a fan of Noam Chomsky, the nation’s leading anti-war crusader.

 

Like I said, one of a kind.

 

 

Army Corps Of Engineers Caught Using Substandard Crap To Rebuild New Orleans Levees

 

3.7.06 Los Angeles Times

 

Two teams of independent experts earlier said the Corps was taking shortcuts and using substandard materials to rebuild the levees around New Orleans

 

 

 

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

 

 

“If We Forget Its Plots It Will Kill Us All Without Exception”

 

“Our Iraq is passing through a big crisis, insofar as our enemies are entering among our brethren and spreading turmoil among you.  Do not forget the plotting of the occupation, for if we forget its plots it will kill us all without exception.”  Moqtada al Sadr, February 28, quoted by Doug Lorimer, Green Left Weekly, March 8, 2006

 

“Iraqis Are Not Victims Who Will Just Suffer And Weep And Cry Because We Are Occupied.  We Will Resist”

 

 

March 8, 2006 By Coral Wynter, Green Left Weekly [Excerpts]

 

During the January World Social Forum, Medea, a spokesperson from the US women’s organisation Women in Pink, asked that women organising International Women’s Day events this year incorporate opposition to the war in Iraq as one of the central issues.

 

Medea introduced Yenara Hammad from the Organisation of the Women of Iraq.

 

They first met when Hammad was organising a demonstration of women in the same square in Baghdad where the world watched the statue of Saddam Hussein fall down following the US-led invasion of Iraq.

 

Hammad was confronted by a US officer who asked if she had a permit for her demonstration.  Hammad replied: “And where’s your permit to be in my country?”

 

Hammad told the forum: “Iraqis are not victims who will just suffer and weep and cry because we are occupied.  We will resist.

 

“Our resistance comes in many forms: one of them is the voice of women and the power of women.  That day we had got together to raise our voices, outside the Green Zone, the most dangerous place in the world.

 

“The occupation is not working.  It was planned in the name of liberation for Iraqi women and men, but what we have witnessed has been the total abolition of every previous achievement of our civil society.

 

“Women in Iraq were much better off (before the invasion).  We had a modern life.  I was educated as an architect and I finished my Masters degree inside Iraq.  I was paid a salary for studying. I don’t know if students in the US can do that.

 

 

“We need your help to end the occupation.  Because under this occupation there is no possibility that we can have a decent political system ...

 

 

Hammad explained that under rules imposed by Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority that ruled Iraq following the invasion, “we find out that ... we are not allowed any political affiliation.  We have gone back to the dark ages and can only admit to our religious ideas.  With this occupation of Iraq we have been forced into a very barbaric situation.

 

“We need your support, not only to end the occupation, but we need your support for the people of Iraq to be able to organise themselves and to have some political aspirations to build towards a future where we can be free, where we can enjoy equality and political choice.  Women are now second-class citizens, as in the constitution.  The constitution states that no article of law can be in contradiction to Islamic Sharia law, which makes us automatically second-class citizens. In Iraq, we used to enjoy the best family law in the Middle East.

 

“So is this liberation?

 

“No. It has to end right now, and it’s from people like yourself that the pressure can begin.  Help us to end one of the darkest periods in the history of modern Iraq.”

 

Collaborator Commander Set Up For Sniper By Infiltration:

“The Outsiders Have Hands On The Inside,” The General Said.

 

[Thanks to PB who sent this in.]

 

Mar 7 By Alastair Macdonald, Reuters

 

The Iraqi army is investigating how a gunman managed to kill a senior Iraqi general in an attack that has fueled concern about the new, U.S.-trained Iraq military's cohesion in the face of brewing sectarian conflict.

 

"It is a very strange incident and raises many questions," an official in the Defense Ministry press service said on Tuesday after the commander of all Iraqi troops in Baghdad died from a bullet to the head while in a patrol convoy on Monday.

 

Another Iraqi general told Reuters it was an assassination that needed inside information and proved the army, recruited by U.S. officers over the past two years, had been infiltrated by factional militia groups ready to turn on fellow soldiers.

 

"The outsiders have hands on the inside," the general said.

 

Dulaimi, a Saddam Hussein-era general who had a reputation for personal bravery, was in a convoy of 14 armored vehicles in an area of western Baghdad where Sunni insurgents are active, the Defense Ministry official said.  

 

He had driven out from his headquarters in late afternoon to investigate a gun battle.

 

The general was wearing body armor, the ministry official said.  He opened the door of his four-wheel drive vehicle and a single bullet struck his head as he was putting on his helmet.

 

A security source at Baghdad's Yarmuk hospital said the bullet entered the right side of the general's head.

 

The ministry official, the Iraqi general and an Interior Ministry source all said one bullet was fired, apparently by a sniper in a high building.

 

However, a second Defense Ministry official said many shots were fired and other troops wounded.  The hospital source said no wounded soldiers were admitted.

 

Dulaimi is the most senior officer killed in Iraq since the U.S. invasion.

 

The U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, said in a statement: "This tragic incident will neither impede the 6th Iraqi Army Division from continuing its mission of securing Baghdad nor derail the formation of the government of Iraq."  [God, what a waste of talent.  Now why couldn’t he have been at Yorktown telling the world that just because General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to Washington, that didn’t mean England was going to lose.  Or maybe at Stalingrad, explaining that it was really a great German victory.]

 

Assorted Resistance Action

 

AP & (Reuters) & DPA

 

Four Iraqi officers were killed in two separate attacks on police patrols in Baqouba and Beiji, north of Baghdad.  The assailants were not identified.

 

A soldier was wounded when a roadside bomb exploded as an Iraqi army patrol drove by Kirkuk University in central Kirkuk, police said.

 

A policeman was killed and another wounded in a drive-by shooting on the Kirkuk-Hawija highway, 60 km (40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

 

A car bomb wounded three police officers in Baquba. The policemen had arrived at the scene after militants had killed a policeman on a patrol.

 

Four traffic policemen were wounded when a car bomb went off in central Hilla.  Police patrols, ambulance and fire trucks had been rushed to the scene of the blast, a police spokesman told dpa.

 

A policeman was wounded when four mortar rounds landed in and around Balad police station in Balad, police said.

 

Three policemen were killed and four were wounded when guerrillas attacked their patrol in the oil refinery city of Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

 

In Iskandariya, driving guerrillas opened fire at a vegetable shop injuring a policeman.

 

 

 

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

 

 

Got That Right

 

March 07, 2006 Basem Khader, Anti-Allawi Group [Excerpt]

 

You might recall that one of the first acts of the CPA after the invasion of Iraq was to resuscitate the Baghdad stock exchange.