2007-03-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

Ride -

Today it was windy, but with the a few peices of good gear it is more than warm enough. The sun was out and one pick up truck was parked in the bike lane. I am not certain he or she would have understood the irony of the choice of parking spots.

A few days ago I was surprised to learn that 300, 000 people die of cardiac arrest a year. Though, I can't recall if it was in reference to a North American population sample or a world wide sample.

2006-02-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

It's Snowing

At first a bit of rain, turning into sleet and now great hunks of clinging falling snow. Elsewhere the Danish embassy is stormed and set a blaze. In the news it is characterized, as a battle between freedom and relgious tolerance. In the middle is a cultural divide. Each side seems incapable of phathoming the others imperatives. Such is the nature of mistrust, bigotry, and even hatred on both sides. While it is good that we have great freedoms, to what end we use them seems just as valid a question if not more so.

2005-10-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

US led forces have killed over 9,000, Iraqi civilians since the US invasion of Iraq. Iraq Body Count

2005-10-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

Iraq and some other place. Some people do not like to make comparisons, this soldier was forced to:
chopper down

2005-07-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

Abu Grahib 2005

The following was taken from Editor and Publisher . What is the US Military trying to hide?

Pentagon Blocks Release of Abu Ghraib Images: Here's Why

By Greg Mitchell

Published: July 23, 2005 6:00 PM ET

NEW YORK So what is shown on the 87 photographs and four videos from Abu Ghraib prison that the Pentagon, in an eleventh hour move, blocked from release this weekend? One clue: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress last year, after viewing a large cache of unreleased images: "I mean, I looked at them last night, and they're hard to believe.” They show acts "that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhumane," he added.

A Republican Senator suggested the same day they contained scenes of “rape and murder.” No wonder Rumsfeld commented then, "If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse."

Yesterday, news emerged that lawyers for the Pentagon had refused to cooperate with a federal judge's order to release dozens of unseen photographs and videos from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by Saturday. The photos were among thousands turned over by the key “whistleblower” in the scandal, Specialist Joseph M. Darby. Just a few that were released to the press sparked the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal last year, and the video images are said to be even more shocking.

The Pentagon lawyers said in a letter sent to the federal court in Manhattan that they would file a sealed brief explaining their reasons for not turning over the material. They had been ordered to do so by a federal judge in response to a FOIA lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU accused the government Friday of putting another legal roadblock in the way of its bid to allow the public to see the images of the prisoner abuse scandal.

One Pentagon lawyer has argued that they should not be released because they would only add to the humiliation of the prisoners. But the ACLU has said the faces of the victims can easily be "redacted."

[NOTE: The New York Times on Tuesday ran a somewhat confusing correction on its story about this episode: "An article on Saturday about a federal judge's order regarding photographs and videotapes related to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal misstated a deadline and the response by Defense Department lawyers. The government was given until Friday to black out some identifying details in the material, not to release it. Defense Department lawyers met that deadline, but asked the court to block the public release of the materials. They did not refuse to cooperate with an order for the materials' release."]

To get a sense of what may be shown in these images, one has to go back to press reports from when the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal was still front page news.

This is how CNN reported it on May 8, 2004, in a typical account that day:

“U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld revealed Friday that videos and ‘a lot more pictures’ exist of the abuse of Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib prison.

"’If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse,’ Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee. ‘I mean, I looked at them last night, and they're hard to believe.’

“The embattled defense secretary fielded sharp and skeptical questions from lawmakers as he testified about the growing prisoner abuse scandal. A military report about that abuse describes detainees being threatened, sodomized with a chemical light and forced into sexually humiliating poses.

“Charges have been brought against seven service members, and investigations into events at the prison continue.

“Military investigators have looked into -- or are continuing to investigate -- 35 cases of alleged abuse or deaths of prisoners in detention facilities in the Central Command theater, according to Army Secretary Les Brownlee. Two of those cases were deemed homicides, he said.

"’The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience,’ Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told reporters after Rumsfeld testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. ’We're talking about rape and murder -- and some very serious charges.’

“A report by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba on the abuse at the prison outside Baghdad says videotapes and photographs show naked detainees, and that groups of men were forced to masturbate while being photographed and videotaped. Taguba also found evidence of a ‘male MP guard having sex with a female detainee.’

“Rumsfeld told Congress the unrevealed photos and videos contain acts 'that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman.’”

The military later screened some of the images for lawmakers, who said they showed, among other things, attack dogs snarling at cowed prisoners, Iraqi women forced to expose their breasts, and naked prisoners forced to have sex with each other.

In the same period, reporter Seymour Hersh, who helped uncover the scandal, said in a speech before an ACLU convention: “Some of the worse that happened that you don't know about, ok? Videos, there are women there. Some of you may have read they were passing letters, communications out to their men….The women were passing messages saying ‘Please come and kill me, because of what's happened.’

“Basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys/children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. The worst about all of them is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror it's going to come out.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Mitchell (gmitchell@editorandpublisher.com) is editor of E&P.

2005-07-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

- Greed and Communality -

It's a natural human condition. How do we as people, reconcile our ability to share and take? The Middle East has oil, and everyone needs oil. How does a contries establish relationships around this central need.

In particular, is there a relationship between war and oil? If so, how does it relate to the current conflicts in Iraq?

We all use oil, directly and indirectly, so if there is a relation to war and oil, how does it fall upon us, the every man or women?

2005-07-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

- Suicide Bombs Fall Like Rain in Iraq -

Before the Americans there were no sucide bombs. Why did the Americans come? Was it because of wmd? None have been found. Was it because it Saddam was behind 9/11? No dirt here either. Is it because his country was home to terrorists? Weren't they all from Saudi Arabia? Come to think it, what are the nationalities of the suicide bombers being blown apart in Iraq everyday? In starting this blog, I am looking for answers as to why the United States of America, the most powerful country in the world attacked, it one time ally, Iraq.

Cyber Presence