Month: March 2006

Check out this video from the BBC, via Information Clearing House, about the 130 mile march of antiwar Iraq veterans from Mobile, Alabama to St. Bernard’s Parish in New Orleans, Louisiana:

We’re Sorry: Former US soldiers on the personal cost of war in Iraq.

It begins with a young man explaining how isolated he feels since returning home, and his stress over seeing his best friend killed and accidentally running down a child with his truck.

Then we see a view of the rag-tag group of marchers on their way. The men are very excited to see an al Jazeera camera crew. They want desperately to explain to the Arab world that,

“[W]e are not against them. Yes, we may have had to shoot at them when they were shooting at us in some cases, but the thing is, we were sent there to do this job – because it was our job. And we didn’t like doing it. We did what we had to do to survive. And we know it was wrong. And we’re sorry. We’re sorry about that.”

Some more memorable quotes:

“An IED goes off, and you just zap any farmer near you.”

“You get so into it.”

“When I first got there, you could basically kill anybody you want. If you see anybody out here at night, shoot ’em. Just drop [plant] a shovel [i.e. evidence of an IED].”

And I really can’t emphasise this part enough: Collectivism kills. Especially its racist version:

“That’s why they call them Hajis. You have to desensitize yourself to it. They’re not people, they’re animals. … Hajis, hajis. They beat it into your head. These aren’t people.”

(“Haji” is an honorific for Muslims, a term of respect for someone who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca.)

“Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam.”

“I’m usually at home all day taking sleeping pills.”

I am terribly sorry, but it doesn’t look to me like the Straussians’ project of using warfare to make a man out of everybody has worked out much better than those to scare the Muslim world into submission/create a democracy, “secure” oil wealth or keep Israel safe. Instead we have a group of guys who left here just fine and came back in shattered pieces.

And for what? Nothing.

Update: The Guardian: “If You Start Looking at Them as Humans, Then How Are You Gonna Kill Them?“

PEN American Center, “the largest of the 141 centers of International PEN, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization,” has decided to give Sibel Edmonds, the “most gagged person in American History” their First Amendment award:

“Translator Fired from FBI for Blowing Whistle on Intelligence Failures to Receive 2006 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award

“New York, New York, March 29, 2006—PEN American Center has named Sibel Edmonds, a translator who was fired from her job at the FBI after complaining of intelligence failures and poor performance in her unit, as the recipient of this year’s prestigious PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award. Ms. Edmonds will receive the $20,000 prize at PEN’s annual Gala on April 18, 2006 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

“In announcing the award today in New York, PEN Freedom to Write Program Director Larry Siems praised Edmonds’ commitment to preserving the free flow of information in the United States in a time of growing international isolation and increasing government secrecy. “It is hard to think of a position in public service more valuable to the nation in these turbulent times than a language specialist who is engaged in making important international information accessible to government officials and policymakers,” said Siems. “Sibel Edmonds understood the importance of her position and carried out her work with energy and honor – only to face retaliation and dismissal. Unintimidated, she has fought to inform Congress and the American people on the urgent need for better translation services in areas vital to our national interests. PEN is proud to recognize her for her work as a language specialist, her heroic efforts to improve our country’s translation services, and her current efforts to organize and protect government whistleblowers.”

Ain’t it about time something went her way?

Update: Sibel informs me that she will be accepting the award on behalf of all the National Security Whistle Blowers.

Howard Kaloogian, California congressional candidate and co-founder of Move America Forward, gets busted passing off a photo of Istanbul as evidence of a bloodless, bustling Baghdad. Kaloogian pleads confusion (scroll down to actual Baghdad photo, apparently taken by the Cassini-Huygens probe).

Previews of David Hare’s new play Stuff Happens began last night at New York City’s Public Theater. The play explores the reasons for the war in Iraq using characters ripped from the headlines; actors actually play Bush, Powell, Blair, Rice and Rumsfeld, transforming real life into profound drama. John Lahr of the New York Times has said "In his best political play yet, Hare brings us an exhilarating account of the genesis of the current Iraq War." Hare is already well known for the provocative political and social commentary of his works, which include The Absence of War (a meditation on the thoughts and actions of modern politicians and the nature of leadership) and Via Dolorosa (an autobiographical one-man show about traveling in Israel and Palestine).

A special discount is being offered to Antiwar.com readers who wish to see the production: go to www.broadwayoffers.com and enter the code SHEMB67 to save 15% on tickets.

when he says,

“I wish Iraq well, but I as a foreign policy analyst from the United States am not willing to take responsibility for what takes place in Iraq.”

It is your responsibility, not simply for being an American, but because you pushed it.

when he says,

“The only way to drive U.S. influence out of the Muslim world, bin Laden has long maintained, is to tie it down in a series of small wars that bleed it financially. The nearly $10-billion-a-month wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are doing just that. Iraq, as even Bush admits, has become an incubator, magnet, and call to arms for anti-American jihadists across the Muslim world.”

Of course, it would be easier (and cheaper) if we just learned from the mistakes of the past, or at least heard advice from those who learned.