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Archive for April, 2011
Viagra-Rape Bullshit
The US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice claimed that Gaddafi is supplying his troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape.Rice made the claim while accusing Gaddafi of numerous human rights abuses. The Viagra claim surfaced in an al-Jazeera report last month from Libya-based doctors who said they had found Viagra in the pockets of pro-Gaddafi soldiers.
The Guardian reported that a UN diplomat at the closed session on Thursday said: “I was in the room when she mentioned Viagra. The remark did not cause a stir at the time. It was during a discussion about whether there is moral equivalence between the Gaddafi forces and the rebels. She listed human rights abuses by Gaddafi’s forces, including snipers shooting children in the street and the Viagra story.”
Susan, Susan, I know it must be lonely as hell at the top, but darling, Viagra is only a helper. The will and the desire still needs to be there first– don’t you watch those TV commercials with the happy older couples in the bath tubs? I know you must get a lot of spam emails, but really, Viagra is not for everyone.
Plus, rape is a crime of violence and aggression, of hatred toward women. It is not a crime of desire and for the record, women don’t ask for it by their dress or actions. Rape is violence and you don’t need Viagra for that you freaking idiot.
I hope somehow this report is wrong. If not, we have clearly lost our minds.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Interview with Guardian UK (TV)
I had an excellent interview with the Guardian TV unit, as part of a documentary they are doing about Iraq, Bradley Manning and the final phases of the war. The finished project airs in June– I’ll post a link when it is available online. Wish I was a little more photogenic, but we can’t all be Rob Lowe. Yes, a face made for radio and all that.
The production will also likely use some of my photos of FOB Hammer, the base where Manning and I overlapped for some six months. The office where he worked was right down the hall from mine and though I never knowingly met him, it is hard to believe that we never walked past each other in the corridor, or ended up in the single cafeteria at the same time. The food wasn’t that good, and it could have been Manning one of those days when an anonymous soldier muttered that the salt was not enough to overpower the grease on pot roast Wednesdays.
You can see the photos of FOB Hammer now, on Flickr.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Sunday Bloody Sunday
While stories about Iraq are harder to find in the media than stories about Charlie Sheen’s (who?) introspective side, the war continues. This week the death of two more US servicemen in this sad, sad place only made it as far as page A14 in my hometown Washington Post (the overall death count for Americans is “over 4,400,” as if the other 37 deaths are just a rounding error. Sorry Mom and Dad.)The Post does a better job than most trying to keep up with violence in Iraq, but there is only so much space, and sadly, only so much interest. Today’s paper tallies 10 Iraqis dead, including the 8 year old daughter of an Iman who preached against violence (if it bleeds it leads, bonus points for irony). A couple of cops killed with the old double-tap bombing. One blast kills a few and draws more to the scene, after which a second bomb is detonated. Some Sunni-Shia killings, couple of Sons of Iraq gunned down.
Click the right links for local Iraqi news and the death toll mounts. Over at Aswat Al Iraq, you can read about a bombing that killed 46, another disaster in Kut and complaints from some Ministers of Parliment that recently released prisoners are behind the violence (i.e., Sunni politicians blame released Shia prisoners and vice-versa), a bomb explosion in Baghdad that killed three, wounded 28.
Yep, this war was still the right thing to do. Have a nice weekend America.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Crocker and Petraeus, Reunion Tour ’011
Since Iraq worked out so well, let’s reunite the old gang for Afghanistan. FTW!
Jeez, you’d think some fresh blood might be called for. The gene pool needs chlorine friends.
Vintage cartoon (the Iraq success was in 2007) from Republican-Elephant.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Is it still a secret if everyone knows?
Is it still a secret if everyone knows?Such is the dilemma Wikileaks poses for the government. Fearful to verify that anything on Wikileaks is authentic, and doubtless seeking to preserve the ironic freedom to prosecute anyone, someone, somewhere, someday for the leaks, the US Government insists on treating information available to anyone with Internet access as still highly classified.
It works like this. The latest tranche of files from Wikileaks, published this week by the New York Times and others, includes extensive information from (ok, allegedly) Guantanamo. Sit down in an Internet café in Karachi or Kabul and read to your heart’s content interrogation notes and prisoner records. This is of course presuming you are not a defense attorney for one of those held in Guantanamo.
If you are a defense attorney, then the US Department of Justice has already informed you that the documents remain legally classified even after they were made public. Because you the lawyer were granted a security clearance to enable you to even meet with your client, you are obligated to treat the readily available files “in accordance with all relevant security precautions and safeguards,” handling them, for example, only in secure government facilities. Somehow, if DOJ caught you working with the files in an Internet café, you could lose your security clearance.
These kinds of fear-mongering rules have lead to some bizarre situations. A friend at ICE says that visa extension applications that include Wikileaked docs as proof of persecution, printed off the web, have to be treated as classified inside the office and stored accordingly to avoid a security violation by the ICE worker (not the potential beneficiary, who is somehow not covered by the security laws.) Another colleague who has legitimate access to classified material told me that he finds the search functions for Wikileaks available through the Guardian newspaper so superior to the government’s internal search tools that he now routinely looks for documents online, makes notes, and then later doubles back to cite official references in his in-house drafting.
The State Department issued very clear guidance to its employees about viewing Wikileaked material on their work computers:
Personnel are reminded that unauthorized disclosure of classified documents in the media (print, blog, website) does not mean that the documents have been declassified. You must continue to abide by the classification markings on any documents in your possession and handle them with the appropriate protections, even when they have been posted on Internet websites.
If a State Department employee wants to save some of the documents for a clearly work-related reason, s/he “should put all saved documents in a computer directory folder that begins as ‘Wikileaks published material’. Any classification markings on the downloaded material should be retained. If any such material is printed out, however, it must be handled as a classified document and stored in a classified container.”
So, if you download a still-classified document from the web, you can store it on your unclassified computer. However, if you print that same document out, it must be stored in a safe rated for classified material. Got it?
The State Department has also used its firewall software to block some Wikileaks sites inside Foggy Bottom, including of course the main Wikileaks page, but also a number of blogs (a favorite, Toms Dispatch, is among the blocked sites months after a limited reference to the leaked data.) One is tempted to shout “Censorship!” but realistically it is just likely bureaucratic idleness about adjusting the software. Bigger media outlets, such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, which routinely publish Wikileaked material, are not blocked.
Many State employees, spooked over fear of security violations, only access routine articles on Wikileaks from their home computers. The New York Times reported that in December, Columbia University warned international relations students that commenting on the documents disclosed by WikiLeaks online or linking to them might endanger their chances of getting a government job. The same month, the United States Agency for International Development told workers that viewing the documents on an unclassified computer at work or home could violate security rules that govern their employment. In February, an Air Force unit cautioned that employees and even their family members could be prosecuted under the Espionage Act for looking at the WikiLeaks documents at home.
People end up going along with these makes-no-sense rules. Fear is perhaps the most powerful tool available in a police state, and as effective a means of control as any taser. My dog won’t leave the yard for fear of being whacked with a rolled up newspaper, even when no one is around to enforce the rules. We don’t have or need a fence. She has learned that getting along under an authoritarian regime means remembering to allow fear to control her, however absurd the rules and however unlikely the punishment.
Woof! Good doggy gets a Scooby snack!
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Rock the Look that Shook Guantanamo!
You too can rock the terrorist look!According to horse whisperers quoted in the New Yorker referencing information absolutely not from Wiki-something, one of the signs of a terrorist was that he wore a Casio F91W watch. As much as it seems like a stupid joke, in fact persons were captured and sent to Guantanamo on mere fragments of nothing, including what type of wristwatch they wore.
While in US custody, here are signs, according to the files, that a prisoner is dangerous: attitude toward the Star Spangled Banner; having been caught wearing a Casio F91W watch; perceived support for fellow inmates who committed suicide (there have been five).
It is almost too shameful to believe, but it seems to be true. The information is confirmed by the good Wiki, Wikipedia, here.
The advantages of this model watch to a terrorist are detailed in statements given at Guantanamo, to include: it has a compass for aiming prayers toward Mecca and is waterproof, handy when performing ablutions before prayer. US intel claimed the watch was often used as a timer in bombs, as among other things, the watch told time.
Now you too can rock the look that shook Guantanamo! Radical Muslim organization Amazon.com offers the very chic evil Casio Men’s F91W-1 Classic Black Digital Resin Strap Watch
for about $11, and it qualifies for free super saver shipping.
Jeez, I thought only dorks and nerds wore watches like this. Who knew?
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Qumu
Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda Bin Qumu has lived an odd life, his own choices and actions constantly crisscrossing with the ever-fickle policies of the US.Qumu, the Guardian tells us, started his adult life in Libya as a thug, quickly ending up in jail for ten years for alleged “murder, physical assault, armed assault and distributing narcotics.” The US was in a state of semi-war with Libya at the time, though Qumu was unlikely aware of the changes in the US presidency that took place while he racked up years on the inside.
He escaped somehow in 1993 and fled to Afghanistan, where, with US weapons and support, he fought the Russians while under the control of the good folks we’d come to know later as the Taliban and al Qaeda. Qumu likely did not know his weapons came from the US, but his existence depended on them.
Under somewhat murky circumstances as the Afghan franchise closed down, Qumu found his way to Sudan, working for some of the same people he worked with in Afghanistan. Only by the time of his arrest and shipment to Guantanamo in 2001, the US no longer supported those guys. Osama and Sheik Khalid, once spunky revolutionaries comparable to our Founding Fathers and fat with US money, were now evil men. Qumu found himself in the Cuban lockup under US guard.
History took another turn for Qumu in 2007, when the US and Libya renewed their vows and became diplomatic friends again. As part of the budding romance, Qumu was released from Guantanamo and sent back to Libya. The Libyans promptly threw him in jail, labeling him a “dangerous man with no qualms about committing terrorist acts.” Nonetheless, he was released from Libyan prison in 2008 under an amnesty.
Now Qumu turns up again, this time helping lead whomever the “rebels” are in Libya, trying to overthrown Gaddafi, with US weapons and assistance. Qumu, once a bad guy, then a good guy, then a bad guy, is now a good guy again in the eyes of the US, practically ready to move in with John “More Blood, Please” McCain.
Politics makes strange bedfellows indeed.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
US v Iran, Revisted
Another round in the Proxy War, as valiant US underdog and lickspittal Bahrain claims that Iranian-friended Hezbollah is actively plotting to overthrow the country’s ruling family. CNN reports that “Evidence confirms that Bahraini elements are being trained in Hezbollah camps specifically established to train assets from the Gulf.”Bahrain will no doubt respond by democratically killing more demonstrators, for their freedom, which is definitely not about oil or US naval bases, no sir.
See below for more on the US-Iran Proxy War
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Freedumb They Died For
Another example of the good use of American lives and taxpayer dollars to bring freedom to those oppressed by an evil dictator (episode 875):An Iraqi Army force has surrounded al-Ahrar (Liberals) Square in central Mosul on Monday, to prevent demonstrators from reaching the square that witnessed a sit-in demonstration over the past few days.
“An Iraqi Army force has surrounded al-Ahrar Square since Monday morning, preventing demonstrators to reach the square,” a security source said, adding that the Army closed all the streets leading to the square, where about 3000 demonstrators gathered.
He said the Army force opened fire in the air and used water hoses to disperse the demonstrators.
Mosul had witnessed broad sit-demonstrations in al-Ahrar square since April 9th, demanding the departure of U.S. forces from Iraq, release of detainees and carrying out public reforms.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Where’s My $132 Million Dude?
Always-entertaining blog Diplopundit wonders what happened to a $132 million refund due after the OIG found construction deficiencies at Embassy Baghdad. The world’s most expensive Embassy was built primarily by a Kuwaiti contractor because every single American firm was busy working on their Facebook pages at the time.At a time when Congress keeps pecking away at the carcass of State’s budget, wouldn’t it look good for the Department to show it had collected on the $132 million due?
Wouldn’t it look bad if they had not?
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Another Blow to Hearts and Minds: Taliban uber alles
Somehow this is part of something: ‘I wanted to be free’: Muslim model upsets family by posing nude for Playboy cover. (Link NSFW unless you work in a cool place.)It gets odder when “anti-Muslim sites” then celebrate things like a Playboy cover as a victory. Read the cheering here (Again, NSFW), witty remarks like “After I’m done staring at her, I would like to see her buried up to her neck and stoned to death by an angry mob. Best of both worlds!”
OK, this is junior high school stuff, I get it. But we faced such silliness daily in Iraq. One of our goals, the Embassy reminded us regularly, was to turn Iraq’s Islamically oppressed women into entrepreneurs, and have them throw off their hijabs for miniskirts, liberated and free. Most Iraqi women, however, seemed less interested in owning businesses than they were in somehow finding water, medicine and education for their non-miniskirted children. No matter, like with pretty much everything we did, our vision was not to be disturbed by anything as silly as reality.
I saw the same thing happen in Iraq vis-vis the availability of alcohol. Every time an election popped up, journalists would scurry about recording whether some militia demanded the closure of booze stores, or whether some newbie writer stumbled onto a nightclub in Baghdad with whiskey and dancing offered. These are not meters of progress, friends. Note to newbie journalists: any taxi driver can take you to such a club for an instant byline.
The point is simple: for us to equate progress with how many naked Muslim chicks are in Playboy is as dumb as equating progress with how many Iraqi women bought into our cheesy 1970′s view of empowerment. It is wrong to be crowing democracy when one vision (nude shots) trumps another (veils), or crowing Taliban uber alles when one vision (veils) trumps another (nude shots).
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Jesus to Trump: Drop Dead
Happy Easter: Trump demands long form resurrection certificate.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
The US has no Permanent Enemies: A Short History of US-Libyan Relations
History is just a bitch. Same for Google. Remember kids, the Internet is written in ink.W-a-y back in the dark ages of the 1980’s, President Ron “Prune Face” Reagan called Gaddafi the “mad dog of the Middle East,” bombed his compound, “accidentally” killing Gaddafi’s daughter. Gaddafi had blown up a number of Americans in a disco.
Hijinks ensued. One of my first jobs at State was working on the Lockerbie bombing from the Washington end in 1988. I worked on Lockerbie again while assigned to our Embassy in London in 1991. America was very, very angry with Gaddafi.
We fast forward to 2003…
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Iraqi interpreters seek punishment; say contractor sexually harassed them…
We all used interpreters in Iraq, as only some tiny, tiny percentage of Americans deployed spoke any Arabic at all. The people we called ‘terps typically were supplied as a commodity by various contractors– you ordered up another ‘terp like you’d order office furniture. If one did not work out, you’d call the contractor and ask for a substitute. That some people likened it to an escort service and saw the contractor companies as pimps only now seems more ironic.
The Washington Post today has a story about how several Iraqi women employed as ‘terps by a US company faced sexual harassment. The women assert that their boss, Christopher J. Kirchmeier, a contractor in charge of security badges and clearances on a base inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, demanded sex in return for job-related approvals. Kirchmeier worked for Government Services, a Chantilly, VA-based subsidiary of super-contractor L-3 Communications. L-3 supplied the US Government with everything from simple ‘terps to trained
torturers, er, interrogators, for intel work.The problem the women face is that it is almost impossible to successfully sue any of America’s finest contractors for things that may have happened in Iraq. Read another set of sad stories about this below, in Down the Toilet.
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Acts of Cluster Humanitarianism
A nice companion piece to my Head… Will… Explode… look at USG hypocrisy, this time on cluster munitions.
Acts of Cluster Humanitarianism
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Obama Names New Ambassador to all Muslim Nations
No confirmation hearing required apparently, but not such a good guest for weddings.
Watch a Predator kill people (video) in Iraq. PS: the video seems dumbed down; it is much clearer in real life.
In Pakistan, a US drone attack killed 23 people this morning.
US to begin drone strikes in Libya.
CIA drone kills US Citizen in Yemen missile strike.
Drones are playing a growing role in Afghanistan.
(Ed. – Leave space here for additional countries)
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Head… Will… Explode
Is there a physical limit to how much irony one person can absorb? Does it accumulate in your thyroid like radiation?John McCain (R – Predator), arrived in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Friday morning. Several demonstrators waved American flags as a crowd of about 100 Libyans greeted the Arizona lawmaker.
Some chanted, “Thank you John McCain! Thank you Obama! Thank you America! We need freedom! Gadhafi go away!” as McCain visited the city’s Freedom Square. “Let’s be honest: Our objective in Libya is regime change,” said McCain.
This is the same McCain who in 2009 led a delegation of US senators to meet with Gaddafi to discuss the possible delivery of non-lethal defense equipment. The visit and Washington’s offer of military equipment was seen as another sign of the improving ties between the former longtime adversaries. “We discussed the possibility of moving ahead with the provision of non-lethal defense equipment to the government of Libya,” McCain said at a news conference.
Reaching a tad deeper into the irony hat, we find on April 1, 2007, the same McCain strolled through the open-air Shorja market in Baghdad in an effort to prove that Americans are “not getting the full picture” of what’s going on in Iraq. In a press conference after his Baghdad tour, McCain told a reporter that his visit to the market was proof that people could “walk freely” in parts of Baghdad.
Better yet, following McCain’s market walk, then Presidential candidate Hope Obama said “”Progress in Iraq cannot be measured by the same ideological fantasies that got us into this war,” again calling for a phased withdrawal to begin May 1, 2007, and be complete by March 31, 2008.
A year after the McCain market walk, the area was taken over by Moqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi army. Obama was elected president of change. A few years after that, the troops are still in Iraq as the US begs to let them stay past 2011 and presto! we’re at war in Libya with McCain on the ground again calling for more blood.
Also, please note in 2007 when McCain was in Iraq, the US and Libya were reaffirming friendly relations after having restored diplomatic recognition and reopened our Embassy.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
So Uncool to Beg
Happy Easter! In honor of the holiday, Prime Minister al Maliki said no to permanent US bases in Iraq for the 4023rd time on Thursday, during a meeting with Admiral Mike Mullen, chair of the joint chiefs of staff. Mullen sought to resurrect the idea, hoping for divine intervention.Mullen’s pilgrimage comes on the heels of recent begging trips by SecDef Gates, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R – Boner) and Chief of Staff of the Army Martin Dempsey.
Guys: Desperation never works. Be cool, hang out first, let her come to you. If it isn’t meant to be, just move on, ‘Kay? Plenty of fish in the sea.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Jobs: US Embassy Baghdad v. Brad and Angelina’s Nanny
DetailsUS Embassy: http://iraq.usembassy.gov/iraq/jobs.html
Brad and Angie: http://www.popeater.com/2011/04/19/brad-pitt-angelina-jolie-nanny/?a_dgi=aolshare_facebook
Languages
US Embassy: Mostly just English, Arabic always a plus.
Brad and Angie: At least bilingual, child’s native language and English.
Education
US Embassy: Varies, Most positions require a certain amount of work experience.
Brad and Angie: College degree in either education or child development.
Location
US Embassy: Iraq only.
Brad and Angie: Must travel between Hollywood, New Orleans, France.
Compensation
US Embassy: Varies; sample: Budget Analyst, $29,900 plus 50% for Unique Work Conditions bonus.
For Iraqis, note that salary can vary significantly based on whether you are ordinarily resident in Iraq or not. For example, for a Property Clerk, ordinarily resident salary is $18,782, while for an Iraqi who does not ordinarily reside in Iraq, it is $35,753.
Brad and Angie: Between $50,000 and $150,000 on a sliding scale to start.
Chance of Physical Encounter with Angie
US Embassy: May visit some refugee project; Iraq, however, does not allow foreigners to adopt.
Brad and Angie: Possible when Brad is out of town. Large chance of sympathy f*ck from visiting Jennifer Aniston.
Special Conditions
US Embassy: May be blown up. Possible PTSD.
Brad and Angie: Possible PTSD seeing Angie without makeup.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Two Cups of Tea, Honest, It was Two
Possible change of title for my book.
“In the age of Oprah and celebrity reality television everyone wants to be a spokesperson for some horrible incident or tragedy,” says one book agent of the “Three Cups of Tea” controversy.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
How Many More?
On March 31, Clay W. Hunt took his own life at age 28, after returning home from a career in the Marine Corps that had him see combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He served his brothers and sisters back in the US as an advocate for troops suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) before the disease claimed his own life.
Some 26 percent of returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are depressed, drug and alcohol-dependent, homeless or suicidal. Estimates for the costs of mental health problems from the global war on terror are between $750 million and $1.35 billion annually. Argue with the numbers; cut them in half if you like and it is still a very big, very bad problem.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Child Soldier Hypocrisy
@AmbassadorRice on Twitter:“There is no justifying the recruitment of child soldiers. There is no tolerable number of child soldiers.”
“I am deeply dismayed by reports that children are being recruited to kill in #Libya.”
Well then Ambassador, how about speaking out for clemency for the Canadian citizen child soldier held by the US at Guantanamo for the last nine freaking years? He was just 15 years old when sold to the US by one of our tribal allies.
Or do we only oppose these things when bad guys like (now) Libya do it?
(Pause)
I received some interesting feedback on this post. Here are some samples:
If he is the same guy I met, he killed a green beret medic with a hand grenade. He was not sold to us, he was captured by our commandos. He was and is an unlawful combatant and now, very much an adult. He was radicalized by his parents. I “met” him 2002. He was then a very hard case, recuperating from injuries. If he committed a similar crime here, he would have been tried as an adult.
Another commenter said:
I admire your conviction, but on this one I’ll have to disagree with you for several reasons: First, in no way can an al Qaeda fighter (as he was characterized in the article linked to your comment) be considered a “soldier.” Second, capturing and detaining a teenager who acted as a hostile combatant in an armed conflict is hardly an endorsement of “child soldiers” on the part of the U.S. And finally, the age of criminal responsibility in Canada (his country of citizenship) is 12.
My response:
You both raise excellent points, points that illustrate the complexity of the issues surrounding child soldiers. What I am seeking to point out is that Amb Rice saw no such complexities in talking about Libya (I assume she would agree with you and raise similar points connected to the Guantanamo prisoner). For America to have credibility in the world, we need to speak consistently. The days where similar actions can be good when we do it and bad when our enemies do it are over. This leaves aside the stickier questions of imprisoning this person without trial for nine years before ultimately convicting him before a military tribunal.
The “war” is one of hearts and minds as much if not more than one of territory captured, and our actions do not seem to help us.
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US v. Iran, Round 874
An Iraqi election poster decrying both US and Iranian influence in Iraqi domestic affairs.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Happy Birthday
Musings on Iraq shares this cartoon marking the start of the ninth year of US occupation of Iraq. This may suggest a bumpy road toward convincing Iraq to allow the permanent basing of US troops.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Embassy Baghdad Employee Stole $250k
An Embassy Baghdad employee was found guilty yesterday of stealing nearly $250,000 intended for the payment of shipping and customs services. Criminal mastermind and Jordanian resident Osama “Dr. Evil” Esam Saleem Ayesh was hired by the Department of State as a shipping and customs supervisor at Embassy Baghdad. He oversaw shipments of personal property of embassy personnel.According to court records, Ayesh used his State Department office computer (Doh!) to create a phony email account in the name of a real Iraqi contractor and used that account to impersonate the contractor in communications with sharp-eyed embassy procurement officials (Doh!) in his own office (Doh!) He also cleverly established a bank account in Jordan under his wife’s name (Doh!) From November 2008 to June 2010, Ayesh submitted false invoices which he fabricated on blank stationery kept in his embassy apartment (Doh!) and caused the Department of State to wire money to his wife’s account in Jordan for almost two years without being caught (Doh!)
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
More on the US-Iran Proxy War
Following my article on the ongoing US-Iran proxy war in the MidEast, here are two more indications of the struggle:The AP reported Bahrain said Monday that 1500 Saudi Arabian troops will remain “indefinitely as a counter to perceived threats from Iran.” Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa “told reporters that Iran is a real threat and the Gulf force is needed to counter Tehran’s ‘sustained campaign’ in Bahrain.”
The Wall Street Journal stated that moves by the new Egyptian government to re-establish relations with Tehran are worrying the US and Egypt’s neighbors in the region. US officials have expressed concerns that Egypt’s decision to mend ties with Iran is part of a broader foreign policy plan that could shift the balance of power in the region.
Meanwhile, boneheads like this worry that the loss of our pet dictators in the Middle East will undermine the US’ war on/of terror. Without friendly thugs, how will we outsource our torturing?
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
MidEast Govt. Fires on Own Citizens
Alert NATO to schedule another bombing run against a corrupt Middle Eastern government that uses foreign-equipped paramilitary police forces to fire into crowds of protesters outside their own homes.Oops. It was Iraq. Iraqi police shot seven people in Sulaimaniya yesterday. At least nine protesters have been killed since Feb. 17 in antigovernment demonstrations in the semiautonomous Kurdish region. No official reaction from NATO or the US for the same government actions that result in bombing runs and sanctions in neighboring countries.
You can see a clippet of video from the protests on America’s prime news source, YouTube.
American Idol Prime Minister Maliki met in Baghdad on Saturday with orange-colored circus freak John A. Boehner (R – Tears of a Clown), and said that “The Iraqi armed and security forces are able to handle the responsibility of maintaining security and work in a professional way.” Boehner issued no statement but no doubt will encourage Republicans to oppose weather, daylight and the force of gravity.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Proxy War: US v. Iran in the Middle East
It’s all about oil.It’s all about Iran.By the time my tour in Iraq was wrapping up, the mine resistant vehicles we traveled in could take a solid hit from pretty much anything out there and get us home alive, except for one thing: (allegedly, cough, cough) Iranian-made IEDs. These shaped lens explosively formed penetrating devices fired a liquefied white hot slug of molten copper that was about the only weapon that really scared us. The Iranians were players in all parts of Iraqi society post-2003, including the daily violence. You found Iranian products in the markets, and the tourism business around significant Shia shrines was run by and for Iranians. They were at minimum fighting a proxy war in Iraq, and that war was very, very real for me.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Public Service
From an Amazon.com reader:
To the extent that Peter Van Buren’s book brings to light wasteful, ineffective and counterproductive undertakings by the U.S. government in Iraq, it must be regarded as a public service. Surely even the most ardent supporters of ousting Saddam Hussein and establishing democracy in that country would want to know whether we are actually achieving our government’s stated objectives — and if not, why not? Kudos to Mr. Van Buren for having the courage to call it as he saw it.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
The Afghan Plan
Non-travelogue (“OMG, we ate zebra meant for the first time you guys!”) Foreign Service blogs are hard to come by. A good one is The Afghan Plan, about PRT work in that other war.
Writing in this format has its risks. The Afghan Plan wrote:
A bitingly sharp-edged blog at WeMeantWell.com, which is so blazingly honest that I’m shocked the hatchet hasn’t come down from above yet. He says a lot of the things that a lot of us think but don’t say, which is usually hara-kiri in the State blog world.
I’ll let you all know when the Empire Strikes Back and until then I will keep writing. I feel Charlie Sheen would do the same thing, only afterwards instead of a nap on the couch like me he’d huff $500 worth of coke and have at it with the Cirque de Soleil cast.
Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
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