America: Biggest Killer in Iraq

According to the group Iraq Body Count, nearly 25,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the occupation began. Lo and behold, the U.S. military is the biggest killer, responsible for 37% of victims. The so-called insurgents have killed 9% of the total. It is funny that we never see the grieving relatives of America's victims.

Whether we see them or not they are there, they are angry and they hate us.

World Tribunal on Iraq

You didn't see it on CNN, and you didn't read it in the New York Times. Yours truly fell down on the job. You heard about G8 and Live 8, but you probably didn't know that an international jury of conscience met in Istanbul to document the crimes perpetrated on the people of Iraq.
Here is an excerpt from the Preliminary Declaration.

"The World Tribunal on Iraq met in Istanbul from 24-26th of June 2005. The principal objective of the WTI is to tell the truth about the Iraq war as clearly as possible, and to draw conclusions that underscore the accountability of those responsible and underline the significance of justice for the Iraqi people. "

The World Tribunal took testimony such as this from independent journalist Dahr Jamail.

In November, shortly after leveling Nazzal Emergency Hospital, US forces entered Fallujah General Hospital, the city’s only healthcare facility for trauma victims, detaining employees and patients alike. According to medics on the scene, water and electricity were “cut off,” ambulances targeted or confiscated by the US military, and surgeons, without exception, kept out of the besieged city.

They don't hate our "way of life." They hate what our government has done.

Dead Iraqis

Why do "they" hate us? Is it our way of life, our freedoms perhaps? Neither answer is correct. As I point out in this week's Black Commentator, they hate our government because it kills so many people. An Iraqi humanitarian organization estimates that more than 128,000 Iraqis have been killed by the U.S. occupation of their country.

Speaking of Black Commentator, check out co-publisher Glen Ford's Radio BC commentary on the same subject. You can read the text or listen here.

Jews for Malek:
Anti-Semites OK, Must Have Juice

As I wrote in Black Commentator, ADL President Abraham Foxman doesn't have a problem with anti-Semites, as long as the anti-Semites in question have political juice and back the Israeli government without question. Fred Malek is a Washington mover and shaker, one of those responsible for bringing major league baseball back to the nation's capital.

When Malek worked for Richard Nixon he searched for Jews at the Department of Labor Statistics. Nixon was in paranoia free fall and decided that Jews at that agency were trying to make him look bad. Malek undertook the search via surname. I'm not sure how he did it. Goldstein? Yes. Green? Maybe.

Most of the press corps has added Malek's past to the long list of issues they refuse to touch. Slate has stepped up and dubbed Foxman and friends Jews for Malek.

The next time Foxman opines on Farrakhan, I hope that someone reminds him of his selective amnesia.

Iraqi Death Toll Estimate Rises

"Nearly 40,000 Iraqis have been killed as a direct result of combat or armed violence since the US-led invasion."

Funny how that works. Occupations kill people. Who knew?

Boycott Exxon

Exxon never paid full compensation for the 1989 oil spill created by its tanker the Valdez. Exxon pays for junk science to deny the existence of global warming. Exxon is the only major oil company trying to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. You get the picture. Check out Exxpose Exxon.

Criticize Patriot Act, Go to Jail

Attorney Manlin Lee publicly spoke out against the Patriot Act. Shortly there after the FBI set her up on immigration fraud charges. Now she is going to jail.

The Wisdom of Dick Cheney

"Our military is confronting the terrorists, along with our allies, in Iraq and Afghanistan so that innocent civilians will not have to confront terrorist violence in Washington or London or anywhere else in the world."
Dick Cheney, September 17, 2003

So much for that theory. Then again, this is the same man who predicted the U.S. would be greeted as a liberator in Iraq.

"Tell the truth about what happened. They're in Iraq, that’s why it happened."
Anonynous Londoner

CNN correspondent Cristiane Amanpour was interrupted during an on the street interview by a passerby who did what most of us want to do. Actually I often want to throw something through the television when I am watching CNN. At any rate this gentleman told us why none of us are safe. Watch the video for yourself.

Quote of the Week

Halliburton is getting more tax payer cash, $5 billion to be exact. Never mind that the reconstruction of Iraq is a sham and Halliburton is under investigation for fraud. Now all we can do is keep watching those stupid Halliburton commercials. At any rate, New Jersey senator Frank Lautenberg hit the nail on the head.

"At this point, why don't we just hand Halliburton the keys to the U.S. Treasury and tell them to turn off the lights when they are done?"

They Hate Our Freedoms?

They don't hate our freedoms, or our way of life. They hate our governments. Too bad the average American will never get that information.

"Terrorism may be abominable, but it is rarely irrational. The terrorists do indeed have a rationale: it’s just that we often don’t want to hear it. Years before 9/11, Al Qaeda openly declared jihad against America, not because they “hate our freedoms”, but because we stationed large numbers of our decidedly non-Muslim troops on Saudi soil, which is, according to the Wahabist school of extreme Islam, a sin, and refused to leave. Yes we were in Saudi Arabia at the invitation of the Saudis, but Osama and company hate the Saudi rulers as much as they hate us for that very reason. But how many Americans knew what Osama’s original beef with us was all about? Or even know today?"

Hooman Majd

Bidil Is Very Expensive

I'll say it again. Bidil stinks, badly. This alleged wonder drug was the first to be approved for use in one ethnic group, African Americans. Bidil is in fact just a combination of two generics. It will also be very expensive.

Bidil is priced at $1.80 per pill. Depending on dosage it will cost patients between $5.40 and $10.80 per day. Nitromed, Bidil's manufacturer, has a charity program to defray costs for uninsured patients. How very nice of them.

Once again we see an example of an unnecessary drug raising health care costs for everyone. Insured patients may be able to get the drug, if it is included in their insurance company formulary. It is still bad news for us all. Drug company chicanery continues to drive up health care costs.

The New York Times has the story. Registration is required but it is free.

George Galloway Statement on London Bombings

"We extend our condolences to those who have lost their lives today and our heartfelt sympathy to all those who have been injured by the bombs in London.

No one can condone acts of violence aimed at working people going about their daily lives. They have not been a party to, nor are they responsible for, the decisions of their government. They are entirely innocent and we condemn those who have killed or injured them.

The loss of innocent lives, whether in this country or Iraq, is precisely the result of a world that has become a less safe and peaceful place in recent years.

We have worked without rest to remove the causes of such violence from our world. We argued, as did the Security Services in this country, that the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the threat of terrorist attack in Britain. Tragically Londoners have now paid the price of the government ignoring such warnings.

We urge the government to remove people in this country from harms way, as the Spanish government acted to remove its people from harm, by ending the occupation of Iraq and by turning its full attention to the development of a real solution to the wider conflicts in the Middle East.

Only then will the innocents here and abroad be able to enjoy a life free of the threat of needless violence."

George Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow

Rudy Returns

I shouldn't even think of him, but a terror attack not only means loss of life, it means we have to hear from Rudy Giuliani again. He will be dusted off and ushered around to every network. We will have to hear his awful opinions. That guy is like the bad penny you can't get rid of.

The Phony War on Terror

"My name is on a list of real and suspected enemies of the state and I can't find out what I'm accused of or why, let alone defend myself. And I'm guilty, says my government, not just until proven innocent or a victim of mistaken identity--but forever."

We are going to be inundated with stale exhortations to support the war on terror. The first response should be that the war on terror doesn't stop anyone from putting a bomb on a bus or a train. The London bombings are proof that this war is a phony one.

John Graham is a former State Department employee with the highest level security clearance. He found out that he is on the TSA "no fly" list and can't get an explanation about why he is on the list and has been told he will be on it forever. The list is clearly a joke that doesn't keep us any safer. If Mr. Graham is like other watch list victims he need only use his middle name or initial and voila, he will be deemed safe to fly. We are no safer and our freedoms are being taken away little by little.

The story about the frog in boiling water is an old one, but Graham is quite right to repeat it.

And don't forget that frog. You know that frog. Dropped into a pot of boiling water, he jumps out to safety. But put him into a pot of cold water over a steady flame, he won't realize the danger until it's too late to jump.

So how hot does the water have to get? When the feds can rifle through your library reading list? When they can intimidate journalists? When a government agency can keep you off airplanes without giving you a reason? When there's not even a pretense of due process? We're not talking about prisoners at Guantanamo; this is you and me. Well, after last week, it sure as hell is me and it could be you, next.

New York is London

Only luck has spared New York's transit system from the bombings that have occurred in Madrid and in London. After 9/11 we were told that the city was ready, prepared, able to prevent another terror attack. I can tell you that is just not true.

In August 2003 a black out struck New York, and as I joined thousands of other walking throught the streets it became clear to me. The city isn't prepared for anything. As if that isn't bad enough, the Transit Authority is planning to remove some staff from the L subway line that goes through 14th Street in Manhattan into Brooklyn and Queens. Instead of a motorman and conductor there will only be motormen.

This is insanity. Last fall heavy rains took the subway system out of service twice within a two week period of time. If we can't prepare for weather, how can we prepare for terrorism?

The terror alerts since 9/11 were in all probability phony, used to give Bush support at key moments. I have always said that I was willing to give up money, convenience or time in order to be safer, but all I have given up are civil liberties.

Let's hope New York's luck doesn't run out.

Judith Miller in Jail

"It was Miller, more than any other reporter, who helped the White House sell its WMD-in-Iraq hokum to the American public. Relying on the repeatedly discredited Ahmad Chalabi and her carefully cultivated administration contacts, Miller wrote story after story on the supposedly imminent threat posed by Saddam Hussein."

There is a little justice in the world after all. Judith Miller is going to jail. She is the New York Times reporter who helped make the occupation of Iraq a reality. She and her newspaper committed a great crime that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.

Miller is going to the gray bar hotel because she helped in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame after Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, revealed the Bush administration lies about Iraq's nuclear capability. Wilson had this to say about Miller.

"The real victims of this cover-up, which may have turned criminal, are the Congress, the Constitution and, most tragically, the Americans and Iraqis who have paid the ultimate price for Bush’s folly."

Have fun Judy.

Bush: Scary, Scarier, Scariest

"His mouth kept moving, but there was nothing in his eyes or anything else about him that showed me he really cared or had any real compassion at all. This is a human being totally disconnected from humanity and reality. His eyes were empty, hollow shells and he was acting like I should be proud to just be in his presence when it was my son who died for his illegal war! It was one of the most disgusting experiences I ever had and it took me almost a year to even talk about it."
Cindy Sheehan

I don't need any encouragement to think of Bush as scary, but eyes like "hollow shells?"

As if Sheehan's description isn't enough to induct the creeps, Bush looked like an unhinged pathologically liar when he blinked non-stop and cackled like some strange bird of prey during an interview on British television.

He said he never had any doubts about invading Iraq and wouldn't allow his will to be shaken. How many icky phrases can one come up with? Read a partial transcript here.

Prince Albert of Monaco, the Baby's Daddy

He can have the cash, but not the throne. Monaco's Prince Albert acknowledged fathering a son with Nicole Coste, a flight attendant from the African nation Togo. His son, Alexandre, can inherit his estate, but can't use the Grimaldi name, and will never be a prince, being illegitimate and all that.

This is definitely a new rule for the principality. Albert's grandmother, Charlotte, was the illegitimate child of a prince and a cabaret singer. Her father adopted her and a subsequent law gave adopted heirs succession rights. Go ahead Albert. Adopt your own kid.

What is the problem? His sisters have been pregnant when they got married, or had babies without being married. Alexandre should join his not so highly born cousins and have the right to inherit his dad's throne. His mother should go ahead and give him the name Grimaldi. The other Grimaldis are in no position to be snobbish on this subject.

Black Mexicans Speak Out

The Asociacion Mexico Negro isn't accepting the notion that the Memin Pinguin commemorative stamps are harmless.

"Memin Pinguin rewards, celebrates, typifies and cements the distorted, mocking, stereotypical and limited vision of black people in general."

Afro Netizen was more succinct.

"C'mon, now, Presidente Vicente. Don't make a brutha have to sell his timeshare!"