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DQ: Pastor Bigot Jones ~ free speech or shouting ‘ Bomb!’ in the Afghan theatre?

The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.

~  Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Schenck v. United States (1919)

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Pastor Bigot disseminating hate in Gainesville.

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Just when we think we can’t be brought lower as a country, along thunders an extremist xenephobe asshat like the good reverend from Gainesville.

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I caught one of Pastor Jones brutally ignorant and ARMED cohorts on Hardball last night, being very aggressively flambèed by Tweetie. There’s a peek below. Anti-nausea meds are recommended.

A group of Muslims protested outside the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia, outraged by a Gainesville, Fla. church's plans to burn the Quran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. AFP.

Protests are already happening  in Muslim countries, unsurprising as there are an estimated 1.5 billion followers of Islam in our world. The American flag was burned in many countries, as well as at least one Jones-in-effigy. Kudos to General Petraeus for his strong and principled stand. He compared the Quran burning photos that will be soon be on the global stage to those extremely incendiary images from Abu Ghraib. Extremist recruitment catnip.

Petraeus said in an NBC interview:

I believe I have an obligation to provide an assessment of the likely effects [of] an action in the United States by a fellow American citizen on the safety of those that I’m privileged to lead and those with whom I’m privileged to work.

Such an act would jeopardize the safety of our soldiers and our civilians, even of our Afghan partners, because it’s the police and soldiers of the Afghan forces who would have to confront the kind of demonstrations that we’re afraid would erupt in the wake of such an action.

The First Amendment issues are naturally being highlighted by both proponents and opponents of the Quran burning events. Yet the famed Oliver Wendell Holmes ‘falsely crying fire’ exception exists and begs the question ~ is Pastor Bigot Jones et al exercising their constitutional right to free speech or shouting ‘Bomb!’ in the Afghan theatre?

And, just in from President Obama on Good Morning America, via MSNBC:

President Barack Obama said in an interview Thursday that the Quran-burning plan by a Florida pastor was “destructive” a “recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida.”

Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview broadcast Thursday, Obama warned that Rev. Terry Jones’ plan would endanger U.S. troops and could lead to serious violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The president called it a “stunt” and exhorted Jones to “listen to those better angels” and call off the protest this weekend.

“If he’s listening, I hope he understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans,” Obama said. “That this country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance.”

The president also said Jones’ plan, if carried out, could serve as an incentive for terrorist-minded individuals “to blow themselves up” to kill others.

“And as a very practical matter, as commander in chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women in uniform,” the president said.

Sidebar: I highly reccommend the great Gail Collins column on these types of inanities, and her theory that 5% of our compadres are way-past-clinically bonkers.

From Hardball.

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Daily Question: The elusive grail of Mideast Peace, any realistic shot in our lifetime?

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President Obama takes the baton yet again to attempt brokering the ever-elusive Mideast Peace Process. His predecessors have been publicly or privately attempting the feat virtually since (following the UN Partition Plan), Israel declared their independence on 14 May 1948, and neighboring Arab states enthusiastically attacked them on May 15. The UN inserted itself yet again and declared a truce on the 29th of May, which came into effect on June  11 and lasted precisely 28 days — and was ignored by all parties, despite UN Observers from the U.S. and European allies.

Rinse and repeat for sixty two years.

“I am hopeful, cautiously hopeful, but hopeful,” Obama said of the current Washington meeting of the leadership of Jordan, Egypt, Israel and Palestine. (King Abdullah II, President Hosni Mubarak, P.M. Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas)   Prior to a White House dinner last evening, Obama met with each leader individually. Face to face talks between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palistinian leader Abbas commence at State today, and will be mediated by Secretary Clinton.

Meanwhile, violence continued to ratchet up in the regions themselves, beginning with the Hamas self-credited killing of four Israeli West Bank settlers on the eve of the talks. This morning Hamas claimed responsibility for another attack on settlers, Reuters quoted a Hamas spokesman in Gaza as saying “operations of resistance will continue” and neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority would be able to thwart or deter them in their cause.

President Obama with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt at the White House. NY Times.

Like president after president before him, Obama urged cooperation and stated, “This moment of opportunity may not soon come again. We are under no illusions, passions run deep … there’s a reason that the two-state solution has eluded previous generations — this is extraordinarily complex and extraordinarily difficult.” In an address Wednesday night, Obama continued, “We are but five men, but when we come together, we will not be alone. We will be joined by the generations of those who have gone before.”

Any chance of a resolution in our lifetime? Is it even our job?

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A federal judge dealt a serious blow to Arizona’s immigration law on Wednesday when she put most of the crackdown on hold just hours before it was to take effect.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton sets up a lengthy legal battle as Arizona fights to enact the nation’s toughest-in-the-nation law. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer said the state will likely appeal the ruling and seek to get the judge’s order overturned.

But for now, opponents of the law have prevailed: The provisions that angered opponents will not take effect, including sections that required officers to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws.

The judge also delayed parts of the law that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, and made it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places. In addition, the judge blocked officers from making warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants.

“Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully-present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked,” U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, a Clinton appointee, said in her decision.

She said the controversial sections should be put on hold until the courts resolve the issues. Other provisions of the law, many of them procedural and slight revisions to existing Arizona immigration statute, will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

~ by JONATHAN J. COOPER, MICHELLE PRICE, AP News

And countdown to wingnut time 3, 2, 1 …

Will post official reactions as they come in …

California Wingnut Numero Uno … Darrel Issa says Federal Judge Doesn’t Have the Authority. Hey, maybe we should have a war about “state’s rights”, but keep it civil, you know, like a civil war, eh?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Mexico praises decision on US immigration law

The Mexican government on Wednesday praised a U.S. judge’s decision to block key parts of Arizona’s tough new immigration law poised to impact tens of thousand of Mexicans.

Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa told reporters that the injunction from a U.S. district judge, which came the day before the controversial law was due to come into effect, was a “first step in the right direction.”

The concept of “Shoah” and it’s ensuing pledge “Never Again” transcends generations, even as decent Jèws everywhere are appalled at the brutality in which the current neoconservative regime in Israel is comporting themselves, we will still support the importance of a “Jewish State”, one that can be DEFENDED.

That said, there seems to be many here who are confused as to the differences between “MESSIANIC ZIONISM” & “POLITICAL ZIONISM”.

The former, a cadre of radical, fundamental, dogmatists, more akin to the Taliban than the Knesset… Avigdor Lieberman, Bibi Netanyahu and those whom they enable.. including the “settlers”, a great majority of whom are nothing more than bored, disaffected Jews from the United States and Europe… trying to fulfill some “sanctified mission” to hold the Palestinian territories as part of “Eretz Yisrael”… a misguided “Manifest Destiny” in lieu of any real rationality or sense of history.

The LATTER denoting a more secular State of Israèl devoid of strict Rabbinical doctrine as a matter of governance.. promoting peace and the recognition that there is a dire need for a “Two State Solution”.. a sovereign State of Palestine … one that has as much right to exist as does Israel… and as much of a historical claim there as does Israel.

So long as parties on both sides are content to relegate the tenor or the debate to things that were purported to have happened eons ago, texts comprising erroneous ‘histories’ of the region (outside of, possibly,  the Bhagwad Geeta), horrendous stories of massacre, injustice, banishment….  told down a thousand generations and eventually used as excuses and blood-libels to perpetuate the tribalism that is the cause of so much strife, there will be little chance that our posterity will escape the fear and loathing… the sorrow and hopelessness that defines the lives of all peoples in the region.

We mustn’t stop trying to end this cycle of hatred, but it will be futile until we shun the past and look to the future.

I fully realize and acknowledge the value of realistic goals and the necessity of healthy skepticism, but when that skepticism ferments and devolves into an intractable cynicism, it becomes more than just ‘counterproductive’.. it raises failure to a self-fulfilling prophesy.

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Top Secret Homeland: Is Undercover National Security

and ‘Intelligence’ Out of Control?

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An in-depth investigative series launching in today’s Washington Post confirms the sheer and ungainly scale of the secret, secretive government underworld-on-steroids that frames the post 9/11 America we live in.

Is this explosion of counterterrorism efforts the further realization of Eisenhower’s famed military-industrial complex, or a growing segment of homeland security business capitalism?

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The stunning volume and range of resources and humanpower devoted to national security and ‘Intelligence’ should surprise no one. We all saw George W. Bush preen at the opening of the massive National Counterterrorism Center that he established via Executive Order in 2004; and could easily visualize the hundreds of similar but under-the-radar enterprises sweeping the country and the globe. Hungry hawks were given virtual bipartisan carte blanche to bait, hunt and attack.

Yet much like the gazillion gallons of oil BP is releasing into the Gulf, concrete details and numbers put a shade more clarity and brand new exclamation points on the facts.  Like this statistic, uncovered by Post journalists Dana Priest and  Bill Arkin in what has been an exhaustive two year project:  ”An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates was quoted on his relevant overview by the Post, saying “There has been so much growth since 9/11 that getting your arms around that – not just for the DNI [Director of National Intelligence], but for any individual, for the director of the CIA, for the secretary of defense – is a challenge.”

Many of us are not at all enamored of contractors in the era of extensive Blackwater-Xe et al perfidy, so reading that our military and intelligence contracts are verifiably legion is unsettling. We have 1,270 designated government organizations on the roster, but private firms are acknowledged as having over 1,900.  A company looking to profit (up-front and publicly) from these specialized national security and military needs is rather distasteful from the outset. It lacks cosmetic finesse.

We prefer a subtler, much more collectively ignorable approach for such matters.

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I recall that the first real grande dis-infatuation liberal bastion Keith Olbermann fell prey to re (then) Candidate Barack Obama was that Senate re-upping of the controversial Patriot Act permissions for the Federal government to indiscriminately ‘tap’ our phones. The FISA ‘flip flop’ earned Senator Obama a scathing Special Comment.   There is of course much more to  pursue  and dissect in the larger story, and the Washington Post piece breaks the complicated system down into twenty three categories of top-secret work, including: air and satellite; border control; counter-intelligence operations; ground force operations; disaster preparedness; nuclear; intelligence analysis; and various and sundry ’special operations’.

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From the Washington Post.

TOP SECRET AMERICA

A hidden world, growing beyond control

by Dana Priest and William M. Arkin

Each day at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, workers review at least 5,000 pieces of terrorist-related data from intelligence agencies and keep an eye on world events. (Photo by: Melina Mara / The Washington Post)

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.

The investigation’s other findings include:

Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States..

In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings – about 17 million square feet of space.

Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year – a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.

Finish the article here.

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PBS Frontline episode on Top Secret America video introduction here.

Browse the associated intelligence and security industry database here.

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No doubt the threats and myriad dangers aimed at this country and its citizens are real, present and highly complex. If we learned that the national security and intelligence fields were grossly understaffed, we’d likely be experiencing a different sense of alarm, ~ much as the poor handling of the Christmas Day bomber intelligence was appalling and much criticized.  The Fort Hood shootings were scrutinized for redundancy and system failure as well, and a resultant look at the myriad spider webs of the booming national security business was not a confidence booster. Streamlining and greater inter-agency cooperation were promised. Repeatedly. From a veritable gaggle of department heads and Cabinet Secretaries.

Yet it’s prohibitively difficult  to have faith in a federal government reform or streamlining of anything … perhaps Wall Street should take on the undercover security ops, and Members of Congress could skip the middleman nonsense and move en masse to those uber-cushy corner office suites in Lower Manhattan.

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President Obama headed up to our neighbor to the north yesterday, to first meet with the assembled leaders of G8 countries, then scoot to Toronto for the larger G20 Summit.

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Any fond wishes for policy, environmental or economic changes going forward? Does the newly passed fin reg reform here strike you as promising?

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This was disturbing, found in a story in the New York Times today.

A 31-year-old Toronto man arrested Thursday discovered that the province of Ontario enacted regulations earlier this month allowing police to stop, question, search and seize property from anyone who passed within 16 feet of temporary security fences that had been set up for the summit meeting and that snaked through the downtown area. Those who refuse to identify themselves or cooperate with the police face arrest, a $500 fine or two months in jail. “It creates an island of unconstitutionality in Toronto,” said Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. “This is a tool to effect mass arrest.”

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WTH, Toronto?

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A Year Later: Neda’s Legacy

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You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims.

~ Harriet Woods

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It’s hard to believe that it was a year ago this week that we all regarded with horror the events in post-phony-election Iran. A situation that was half a world away, but brought devastatingly close by the unexpected political usage of social networking and live, raw reporting and photographs via Twitter.

We saw images that never would have made it into the public record otherwise, and read the real time commentary and despair of the Green Revolution subjected to the violence perpetrated on protesters by Ahmadinejad’s government. Families communicated and activists made plans despite the Internet blackout forced upon them as the protests raged.

Thus when the most tragic victim of the melée lay shot and bleeding out on the streets of Tehran on June 20th of 2009, we were witness.

Because of that (excruciating to watch) video footage seen around the globe, young Neda instantly became the face and symbol of the embattled Greens. Her fresh, innocent and achingly beautiful face was broadcast into millions of hearts and minds. That first photograph of Neda Soltani was the iconic personal tie-in needed to galvanize and rededicate the movement and it’s international sympathizers.

Incidentally, she is still alive.

Living in exile in Germany, is the initial Iranian face of last year’s violent events. An overzealous journalist from Voice of the America’s was initially unaware that the girl who died tragically that June day was named Neda Agha Soltan, thus the widely published Facebook photo he grabbed was not actually of the victim. It was the yet living Neda Soltani, of similar demeanor, age and address. A Tehran-based university lecturer who was then subjected to a Machiavellian nightmare from her government that ultimately had her boarding a plane for a lonely life in Europe in order to save herself. She refused to participate in plots aiming to convince the world that Neda’s death was an elaborate Western and/or Green Revolution hoax.

The 27 year-old Neda that was killed by Basji military had loving family and a fiancée. The young Iranian photographer Caspian Makan, now living in Toronto and determined to see the Ahmadinejad regime ousted, was devastated by his Neda’s violent death. He and Neda met while in Turkey, and the two independent, politically aware young Iranians were engaged in record time. Less than three months later, he could not persuade her to avoid the dangerous areas of protest-engaged Tehran. He did the only thing he felt he could do, grabbed his camera and followed her. It was a futile exercise.

Caspian spent all of that night anxiously pouring over photographs he himself had taken of the demonstrations, searching for the beloved face and form of his missing fiancée. He was overcome by a sick despair, on some level knowing he would be forever damaged by actual events when they were made known to him. The next morning, he received the much-longed for call from Neda’s cellphone. But it was her sister, Hoda. “Neda’s gone,” she said simply. “For a while I was just screaming uncontrollably. I don’t know how I got to their house,” said Caspian recently. “It’s been a year since that day. And each moment is like the moment before. Until the day I die, this event will be fresh for me, as if it just happened.”

Neda has arguably become the Joan of Arc of her region and generation. Perhaps not because of the sum of her actions, but certainly as a powerful symbol of what was lost, or stolen, from her peers. She braved an environment where it was known that women were being targeted, and courageously stood up for freedom and justice.

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HBO is running a powerful documentary about the Neda killed by last year’s violence. For Neda has excellent coverage of the role of women in modern Iran, as well as the historical significance of the Green Revolution in the conflict plagued country. “I didn’t want these brave people who came out on the streets and risked their lives so courageously to feel that the world had moved on and it’s been forgotten,” said writer/director Antony Thomas.

There is a good deal of new information packed into the film. Saeed Kamali Dehghan was the dedicated Iranian journalist who secretly, and at great personal risk, was diligently working behind the scenes all year. His accounts from family, friends and exiles are raw and stark, a counterpoint to the softer impact of Neda’s own diaries and letters. Her mother recounts her independent nature, including a refusal to don the traditional chador for school, and pursuing her love of Arab dance in private. No one was ever prosecuted for Neda’s murder, and her family was forbidden to publicly mourn her for the customary 40 days. Yet from the thousands who flocked to her funeral a year ago, Thomas has chosen poignant footage from attendees’ cell phone cameras. His goal was to get past the historic symbol, and to the essence of the girl herself.

You can now view the documentary in its entirety below, or elsewhere online at HBO, or courtesy of Open Culture dot com. It has been an enormous struggle for the the writer/director and HBO to get the documentary shown to the population most desirous of seeing it: the Iranian people. Hence the rather rare free access online.

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Blessed be, Neda.

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For Neda, HBO productions.

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Vast  Mineral Treasure in Afghanistan:  Blessing  or  Curse?

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Afghan protesters burn tires during an anti-American protest in Kandahar after troops fired on a bus, killing four passengers and injuring 18. Associated Press.

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Thus far, most of the unanticipated events that plague every new administration have not been the least bit enjoyable for the Obama White House. Then came the startling headline that a trillion plus worth of mineral treasure was officially ‘discovered’ by the U.S. in an unlikely locale: war and terrorism-torn Afghanistan.

I find it hard to believe that this came as any surprise to much of congress and most of the White House. Massive veins of industry-coveted underground riches had to have been hinted at for decades, even in a nation as confused and confusing as this one. We know that teams of international geologists and mining experts have been on the specifics of the case for a minimum of two years. Aside from goodly amounts of copper, gold, iron, niobium and cobalt, the purported quantity of extremely desirable lithium is enormous. And legal.

This development is textbook mixed blessing. Such wealth could propel Afghanistan into a solvent and vibrant economy. If handled properly, they will find themselves a lucrative and modernized mining center.

Yet, where there are great natural resources, there are individuals, groups and governments competing to profit from them. China will be aggressively bidding for more mining contracts (they currently mine copper there, ironically under the protection of American security forces), along with Japan, Russia and the United States. The Taliban will have renewed incentive to dig in their heels and reclaim as much of the country and it’s imminent riches as they can. The prize just got substantially more dear. It could mean jobs, modernity and schools for the Afghan people … but for the Taliban it means more guns and more power.

From the New York Times:

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Down in the dumps about the job shortage and dreadful economy? Female?

Dutch?

Well perk up ladies, you may now qualify for a substantial stipend in order to pretty your little inferior selves up and snare a husband. A luxe fashion and beauty makeover is headed your way courtesy of the State (in the form of the Netherlands government). Then on to the gratis, outstanding professional matchmaking services of Mens & Relatie, who promise that you shall successfully bewilder and  beguile a solvent spouse in no time.

Who needs a job …

From the Times Online UK.

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All you need is love, Dutch council tells jobless women

Unemployed Dutch women are being offered a €1,400 (£1,150) fashion and beauty makeover and free membership of a dating agency to get them off the dole by finding a solvent husband. Single jobseekers will be given a new hairstyle and outfit, and tips from a life coach on how to attract a new partner or a job.

They will also be given instruction in social and presentation skills and a place on the exclusive matchmaking service Mens & Relatie (People and Relationships), boosted by a professional photograph of their new image. Mens & Relatie claims a 75 per cent success rate in finding long-term partners for its clients.

The thinking behind the scheme, organised by three councils in Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands, is that finding love helps to get the unemployed off state benefits by improving confidence, ambition and motivation. …

“This is a total concept of trying to get people out of social security,” said Radboud Visser, the managing director of Mens & Relatie, which was hired by the three municipalities to find employed new partners for unemployed lonelyhearts. “We know from national statistics that people in a relationship have better health, more happiness, make more money and live longer lives. They make less use of medical systems and social security. So in Friesland they thought, we can try to get people out of social security by bringing them to a nice new husband.”

Really!?

One hardly knows where to even begin.

Admittedly, there are programs here like Dress For Success that assist women into a wardrobe suitable for job interviews and a more professional demeanor. And I imagine that there would be no shortage of savvy  applicants were the U.S. government to offer single ladies $1600 cold cash for fashion and cosmetic makeovers. (Particularly if the inimitable Tim Gunn was on board.) But have the Dutch reached some kind of sociological time warp window, circa the 1500’s, where women were put on select public display then bartered for the maximum possible financial and societal gain?

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The Netherlands, meet me at camera three. (Apologies again to Jon Stewart.)

This is one sick message being broadcast to girls everywhere. Now young ladies, be as superficial as possible, junk your own career goals and dreams, make your (currently) less-than self over into an attractive commodity … and you too could be worthy of a man and get off welfare!

Will the prospective brides also be measured for child-bearing hip width and adequate mammary proportions? Are you scouting for a philanthropist to parcel out dowries, should some unfortunates need to offer extra inducements?

Have you met women born in this century?

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At least most cultures that still trade women like camels have the good graces to keep the sordid details more discreetly on the ole’ down-low.

Here’s hoping there are enough women in possession of testicular fortitude in your country to halt this nonsense in it’s archaic, uber-sexist tracks. And we thought you one of those progressive, model European nations.

Tsk tsk.

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Nosrait Shoaib/AFP/Getty Images Afghan men inspect coffins of blast victims outside a hospital in Kandahar the day after an attack on members of a wedding party late Wednesday.

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In at least one respect, the crisis in the Gulf has aided the Administration: the headline declaring the war in Afghanistan the longest in U.S. history flashed by quickly and with less actual focus from a distracted MSM.

Indeed, on June 7, the conflict in Afghanistan completed its 104th month,  achieving the dubious distinction of  being America’s lengthiest war. (Vietnam only went a paltry 103 months if you start the count with the 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution.)

For a country that latches enthusiastically onto milestones for every purpose from retail strategy to accepted excuses for throwing a shindig, we were remarkably mum about this one. Perhaps when we reach the nine-year mark in Afghanistan on October 7th more note will be taken.

Unless a senatorial candidate pettily critiques an opponent’s gross and negligent misuse of liquid eyeliner or Spanx via a hot mic that day.

And  ’journalists’  everywhere run with that breaking gem for a solid 24.

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Afghan men stand around the bodies of people killed in the blast in Kandahar's Argandab district. Allauddin Khan-AP

A story in the Washington Post this morning really typified the tragic human cost of war that often goes sailing right on by the ADD-driven American wayside.

We’re too busy noting burgeoning political sex scandals and alleged boob jobs.

Celebrating their marriage ceremony in rural Kandahar yesterday, a young and hopeful couple and their families shared their bliss with hundreds of invited guests. The groom, Abdullah Aka, was one of the many Afghans who had bravely joined the Western effort via a local anti-Taliban militia. His family and the overall guest list included a number of Afghan police officers. It was an elaborate and carefully planned event, a wedding being one of the few occasions affording a war and terrorism-torn country the opportunity for a joyful community gathering.

Just after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night, a massive explosion tore through the festivities in the family compound, leaving a devastating path of bodies and casualties strewn in it’s wake. The number of ball bearings flying through the air led guests to speculate — correctly, apparently — that the source was the deadly vest of a Taliban suicide bomber.

A minimum of 40 celebrants were killed. An early estimate of just under 80 were wounded, not including those who fled rather than seek medical attention. Many of both tally were children. Nearly all, however, were male. At this most traditional of gatherings, women were ensconced in their own segregated area in yet another compound. Oddly helpful, on the day.

“I saw the dead bodies all around me, lying like slaughtered animals,” said injured 22 year-old guest Noor al-Haq, surprised that violence had occurred on this scale in a heretofore typically quieter part of Kandahar.

By the time the AP reporter (whose crew shot many of the photos here) made it in to the relatively remote bomb site in Nadahan village, torn flesh, severed limbs and other body parts were still macabrely strewn about the eerily quiet family compound. Mourning had fully replaced fêting.

Just on Tuesday, a seven year-old boy in the neighbouring Sangin district of Helmand had been blatantly hanged in public by the Taliban after being accused of spying. A seven year-old. Yesterday morning, armed insurgents hauled a civilian, a Kandahar regional council member, out of his own house and summarily shot him dead in front of his family and neighbors.

Aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan will likely get you dead.  Helping the U.S. of A. with counterinsurgency could get you  and/or your family dead even faster.

These and other incidents of escalating Taliban-originated violence were predicted. Kandahar, acknowledged key stronghold of the Taliban, is about to be the target of another concerted NATO/U.S. push. Now,  Richard Engel, whom I admire as much as any journalist on the job these days, has spoken at length of the risks and potential disasters of a large scale surge in Kandahar. COIN, or Counter-insurgency operations, are dangerous in any region, but this one is personal. Not only is it the aforementioned heart of Taliban turf, but public sentiment understandably mounts against Western forces every time civilian lives are the casualties of air strikes and ground conflicts. And those tragic, reprehensible incidents seem to occur with alarming frequency. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported that 2,118 Afghan civilians were ‘officially’ killed in 2008, which is the highest number since the tail end of the initial 2001 invasion, and an increase of 40% over UNAMA’s figure of 1,523 Afghan civilians killed in 2007. (And those are the official numbers.)

How absurdly high do those numbers, combined with our and NATO’s dead and maimed,  have to climb before an American president has the cajones to cut our losses and exit?

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An Afghan boy lies on a bed in a local hospital after the suicide attack in Kandahar. Ahmad Nadeem-Reuters

An interview Richard Engel did last year with PBS’ Charlie Rose arrived at some very interesting places. Engel’s description of Kabul today: “It’s a weird place. You’ll be sitting in a hotel lobby, and some guy walks in dressed in white carrying a tennis racket. Restaurants and taxis are all operating. It looks like a normal city, with a lot of expats in the hotels. But 20 miles away, in the villages, there are firefights and bombing going on.”

The NBC correspondent’s perspective on how the Afghan people view the long occupation of Americans in their country: “They don’t really hate us. They just look at us oddly and say, ‘Are you still here? Why? Very little has changed in eight years,” replied Engel. Rose then queried Engel about the observable distinctions between the Taliban and Al Qaida: “There really isn’t that much of a difference any more. I had a Taliban commander tell me exactly that recently. They both have the same goals.”

“How do the Afghans regard the Taliban”? Rose asked. “Nobody wants the Taliban to come back, but neither do they want a bunch of foreigners telling them how to run their government, ” quipped Engel wryly.

Rose next asked if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan aren’t largely the same. Engel: “Not at all. In Iraq, you had a civil war, Sunnis killing Shiites, and vice-versa. You’d have Iraqis run up to American soldiers and beg them to restore some stability. It’s not the same thing in Afghanistan at all. We’re just the latest occupiers to them.” Engel went on to assert that the rarely commented upon Pakistan government hasn’t gotten enough credit for their push back against the Taliban and Al Qaida lately, but he then added, “I’m not sure it will do much good.”

“Should we get out of Afghanistan? ” Rose finally inquired of the veteran reporter. “Yes”, firmly replied Engel, “but it’s not going to be easy – or quick.”

No bloody kidding.

Concerning the wedding bombing, President Karzai released a strong statement right away. “This is a crime of massive inhuman proportions against civilians,” Karzai told those present at a hastily-arranged local news conference. Interestingly, newly-established United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron was in the midst of his first visit to the region since he took office. He joined President Karzai in a most strongly-worded condemnation of the attack. Then he made clear a perspective looking to be quite the switch from that of his predecessors.  From the Washington Post:

Afghan family members and relatives load coffins of victims. Allauddin Khan-AP

Cameron, whose nation is the second largest contributor of NATO forces in Afghanistan with some 10,000 troops, said 2010 was “the vital year” for showing that the U.S.-led counterinsurgency was working.

“This is the year when we have to make progress – progress for the sake of the Afghan people, but progress also on behalf of people back at home who want this to work,” Cameron told a joint news conference with Karzai.

Cameron, whose coalition government is considered less invested in the war than its Labour predecessor, flatly ruled out sending more British forces. “The issue of more troops is not remotely on the U.K. agenda,” he said.

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Jolly good for Cameron. Truly. For the Obama Administration, as we barrel toward that nine-year mark, Game (and pressure) On.

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Allah give us strength.

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Who Was Rachel Corrie?

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There was a lot of buildup surrounding the passage of another Freedom Flotilla aid ship steaming toward Gaza last week, but early Saturday it was peacefully boarded and commandeered by Israeli soldiers. The cargo will be inspected and ostensibly delivered to it’s intended destination via a land route. An Irish-owned vessel, it carried only 11 passengers. Interestingly, it was named after young American pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie, who was famously crushed by an Israeli Army bulldozer during a non-violent protest in the Gaza Strip in 2003.

From ABC.net Australia.

Israeli soldiers board Gaza-bound aid ship

Israeli forces have seized an Irish-owned ship bound for Gaza, boarding the Rachel Corrie close to the Gaza shore. ”The ship has been boarded and there was full compliance from the crew and passengers on board,” a spokeswoman for the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said.

The IDF says no helicopters were used and there were no reports of violence. It says the boat will be brought to Ashdod Port where goods will be inspected and transferred to Gaza via land crossings.

The move came after the Rachel Corrie refused to respond to four requests from the navy to head for the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, and stayed its course for the Gaza Strip.It is carrying tonnes of aid for Gaza, including cement, which Israel bans because of concerns it could be used to produce weapons.

What would prompt a young American of almost no political note and seemingly average middle class background to decide to hie off and be trained by a pro-Palestinian solidarity movement? Her friends from university back in Washington and Oregon spoke of a rather reserved, quiet girl who wanted to be a writer, a good student and friend.

Not a placard waving, aggressively protesting, handcuff-attracting political activist.

While in college, Rachel volunteered in the Conservation Corps and in local hospitals, as well as initiating a sister-city project between Olympia and Rafah. Her Senior year included an independent study project, in which she proposed to travel to Gaza to take part in a non-violent protest with the International Solidarity Movement as well as expanding the sister-city relationship. “I don’t know if many of the children here have ever existed without tank-shell holes in their walls and the towers of an occupying army surveying them,” Rachel wrote in an e-mail. “No amount of reading, attendance at conferences, documentary viewing and word of mouth could have prepared me for the reality of the situation here. You just can’t imagine it unless you see it.”

It was clear that the plight of the oppressed population in Gaza spoke to Rachel Corrie, so forcefully that she felt compelled to leave family, friends and all that was comfortable and familiar. She courageously contacted the appropriate people to help her get to Gaza, and arrived in Rafah excited to be on the cusp of a new chapter in her life.. Training was brief and hurried. These nonviolent protests were almost routine, the Israeli Defense Force was certainly accustomed to confronting human shields of all shapes, sizes and nationalities. Yet on that day in March of 2003, the American made bulldozer en route to demolishing a Palestinian dentist’s home literally crushed the newly-arrived young American woman that stood in it’s path. Despite the fact that she was wearing a fluorescent orange vest and speaking to the Israeli driver of the Caterpillar via a megaphone.

Then the driver reversed, and drove over her broken body yet again.

Rachel Corrie following the 'accident' in Gaza.

Years later, Rachel Corrie’s memory was honored by an Irish vessel christened with her name, the MV Rachel Corrie.

I happened to attend school with a crowd of loudly and blatantly ‘involved’ wannabe players and political aspirants. In far too many cases it was all talk. Unless impressive career networking or other measurable gain was visible, not a lot of walk. It always seemed to help that particular personality type to actually go abroad and step into the cultural narrative of the region they were specializing in. (So off I went.)

Traveling through Cairo and Alexandria in 1984, land was pointed out to me that was being fiercely sought for reclamation by the Palestinians. Now back then, it seems to me that liberals were much more inclined to define themselves as pro-Israel. You could get a very adhesive label spelling ‘anti-Semitic’ if you openly did not. The global political climate seemed more divisive, the USSR was nowhere near dissolution, the Berlin Wall still standing. In the wake of President Carter’s efforts, MidEast Peace was considered somewhat possible. Regrettably, I was not able to enter Israel that trip, as at that time the requisite visa was not issued if Egypt was on your itinerary (my research commitments dictated that it was).

So I’ve lately been pondering the sea change that has many progressives fiercely backing the Palestinian side of the conflict. Certainly the atrocious plight of those trapped in Gaza with little food, inadequate shelter and virtually no  basic comforts is part of it. It’s untenable. Yet those on the Gaza side of things are certainly not without criticism for their more drastic measures, and Hamas is nearly universally unappreciated.

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I’ve reached very few conclusions. Except that this quote by Thich Nhat Hanh seems more and more applicable, at home and abroad: “We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.”

Rachel Corrie’s parents spoke on Sunday of the recent events, as reported by Mary Fitzgerald of The Irish Times.

Cindy Corrie said those on board the MV Rachel Corrie were “courageous” in their determination to continue their journey. “They hold such a warm place in my heart because I have seen the work that they do, I know how important it is, and what amazing individuals they are. I feel so connected to their efforts,” she told The Irish Times .“I applaud them for not agreeing to turn the boat into Ashdod port, because clearly the intention of their efforts is not just to bring humanitarian aid – while that aid is tremendously important – but also to challenge this ongoing, illegal siege of Gaza.”

It was “humbling” that the vessel bore her daughter’s name, Mrs Corrie said. “I know it would be humbling for Rachel too. She wanted more than anything to bring attention to what she was seeing. She went to Gaza to be a witness.” “I think Rachel would feel that if her name helps, if her story helps to continue to bring attention to what is happening, to continue to encourage people to take action right now to improve things for people in Gaza, she would be supportive of that,” added Mrs Corrie. The Corrie family now run the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice in their hometown of Olympia, Washington.

This is one of those topics you can’t stay current on. Just in, from The Guardian UK:

Israeli navy kills four Palestinians off Gaza coast

Men wearing diving suits were on their way to carry out an attack in Israel, claims military spokesman

At least four Palestinians were killed when Israeli navy commandos opened fire on what they said was a squad of militants in diving suits off the coast of Gaza today.

The Palestinians “were on their way to carry out an attack in Israel”, a military spokesman said.

The spokesman declined to give any further details about how the military had identified the men or what they had been doing in the sea.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant offshoot of Fatah, said the men killed were members of its marine unit and had been training. One Palestinian was missing, and there were no Israeli casualties.

Finish the article here.

With protests for democratic reforms entering their seventh week, the Chinese government authorizes its soldiers and tanks to reclaim Beijing’s Tiananmen Square at all costs. By nightfall on June 4, Chinese troops had forcibly cleared the square, killing hundreds and arresting thousands of demonstrators and suspected dissidents.

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Spelling International Incident All Over Israel

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WTH, Israel?

A supposed minimum of ten deaths on an attacked relief supplies ship convoy? Really?!

A massive amount of relief supplies were in international waters en route to embattled Gaza just before dawn yesterday, when the convoy was stormed by Israeli naval commandos. The so-called Freedom Flotilla, led by by the Free Gaza movement and Turkish organization Insani Yardim Vakfi, was an ambitious and potentially effective attempt to break Israel’s three year-old blockade. An estimated 700 passengers and activists were sailing in the raided convoy, among them Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mairead Corrigan-Maguire and various European legislators. Holocaust survivor, Hedy Epstein, 85, had changed her plans to sail with the convoy at the last minute.

A young boy protests outside Downing St, London. AFP.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, who was in Canada at the time of the incident, has cancelled his long-scheduled visit to the White House in order to manage the crisis, amongst harsh global criticism. Israel is in all-out spin mode, accusing the activists of planned attacks and possible gun-smuggling.

Matters are not helped by Israel’s move within the last hour of jailing at least sixteen of the captured pro-Palistinian activists. They will be deporting many more.  Full Story »

According to Agence France-Presse, Israel’s Channel 10 television is presently reporting that 19 passengers were killed and 36 wounded in the confrontation, despite the official Israeli army estimate of ten deaths.

Hamas expressed outrage. Chief Palestinian diplomat and West Bank negotiator Saeb Erakat declared, “What we have seen this morning is a war crime.” France’s Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said there was no justification for this level of violence, “I am profoundly shocked by the tragic consequences of the Israeli military operation against the Peace Flotilla for Gaza,” he said in a statement. The United Nations expressed “shock” and condemned the killings. “We are in contact with the Israeli authorities to express our deep concern and to seek a full explanation,” said the highest-ranking U.N. official in the region, Robert Serry.

Damning video exists in the form of footage from a nearby Turkish passenger boat. Swiftly posted and viral, the clips all over the internet show heavily-armed, black-clad Israeli commandos rappelling down from helicopters and engaging passengers on deck, as well as many wounded.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was “shocked by reports of killings and injuries” and called for a “full investigation” into what happened. An emergency Security Council meeting will take place today.

The White House has expressed disappointment and ‘deep regret’ at Israel’s actions.

From the BBC.

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Deaths as Israeli forces storm Gaza aid ship

Wounded en route to hospital. M. Kahana, AFP .

More than 10 people have been killed after Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army says.

Armed forces boarded the largest vessel overnight, clashing with some of the 500 people on board. It happened about 40 miles (64 km) out to sea, in international waters.

Israel says its soldiers were shot at and attacked with weapons; the activists say Israeli troops came on board shooting. The activists were attempting to defy a blockade imposed by Israel after the Islamist movement Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007.

‘Guns and knives’

The six-ship flotilla, carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid, left the coast of Cyprus on Sunday and had been due to arrive in Gaza on Monday. Israel had repeatedly said the boats would not be allowed to reach Gaza. Israel says its soldiers boarded the lead ship in the early hours but were attacked with axes, knives, bars and at least two guns.

“Unfortunately this group were dead-set on confrontation,” Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC. “Live fire was used against our forces. They initiated the violence, that’s 100% clear,” he said. Organisers of the flotilla said at least 30 people were wounded in the incident. Israel says 10 of its soldiers were injured, one seriously. A leader of Israel’s Islamic Movement, Raed Salah, who was on board, was among those hurt. Audrey Bomse, a spokesperson for the Free Gaza Movement, which is behind the convoy, told the BBC Israel’s actions were disproportionate.

Analysis bullets from BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus

A pro-Palestinian activist is evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. AFP.

This was always going to be a high-risk operation for Israel both in terms of reputation and diplomatic repercussions.

Taking over vessels at sea is no easy task, even if the units carrying out the mission are well-trained, and it is especially difficult if the people already on board the vessels resist.

The full details of what happened will emerge in time, but in political terms the damage has already been done.

The deaths threaten to make what was always going to be a potential public relations disaster for Israel into a fully-fledged calamity. A spokesman said US officials were “currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy”.

Update June 1 12:oo: Fallout continues today, bringing protests and riots in several major cities and calls by the governments of many nations for an impartial investigation. The Obama administration continues a non-accusatory path, expressing regret at the loss of life and desire for a clarifying investigative effort as well. The United Nations formally condemned Israel’s actions, and firmly suggested they exhaustively review the details.

An interesting development in Egypt, they have chosen to open the Rafah-Gaza border crossing (the only egress not controlled by Israel). Along with permitting Palestinians to enter and leave Egypt, humanitarian aid will be allowed through the Rafah crossing, and it will remain open for an indefinite period.

Interesting piece at Reuters, which posits that the U.S. response will have a great deal to do with the long-term damage.

Israel expects U.S. to deflect outcry over flotilla

(Reuters) – Israel can probably live with the diplomatic cost of its bloody storming of Turkish-backed aid ships bound for Gaza — unless its U.S. ally fails to shield it. Israel’s high-seas interception of the flotilla, in which nine people were killed, has provoked a firestorm of criticism around the world and shredded the Jewish state’s already tattered relationship with Turkey, once its only Muslim ally.

Demands will intensify for Israel to end its siege of Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians, decried as “inhumane” by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday. The European Union and Russia urged Israel to open crossings for aid, goods and people.

So far Obama has only voiced regret at the casualties and called for clarification of what happened in the raid. The U.N. Security Council condemned the “acts” that led to casualties and urged an investigation “conforming to international standards.” …

“The Obama administration, already irritated by the Israelis, might now see a shift in U.S. public opinion that will open the way to a new U.S.-Israeli relationship disadvantageous to Israel,” wrote George Friedman, chief executive officer at Stratfor, a geopolitical analysis publication.

Even if this scenario fails to materialize, the fiasco at sea may force the United States to pay more attention to the plight of Gaza and the rift between its Hamas Islamist rulers and President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement in the West Bank.

It is getting to be quite a bumpy ride for Sarah. She probably never thought it would be this way.

Sarah arrived on the scene when the former naval hero chose her to be his partner. Quite frankly, no one had heard of her. When introduced to the public, she came on like gang-busters. There was sudden interest in all things Sarah. His hopes of ever getting the top job were always remote, no matter what some thought of his chances. But… fate had intervened before. The perpetually second place had, in past, risen to the top job. He needed FLASH, and Sarah gave it to him.

After the initial public interest, though, cracks began appearing in the facade:

“Can you believe she said THAT?” “Why would anyone in her position wear something that would make her look like such a strumpet?” “Why would she choose to associate with such an unsavory character?” “Why is she using her children?”

The more the people found out about Sarah, the less they liked her. Sarah was obviously totally out of her league.

Then came the realization that the top job would never be his. Fate would not intervene and elevate him to the highest position in the land. She would not be there by his side. They could have split and never had another word to say to, or about each other. The dream was over. Her behavior during their brief coupling, however, led to a rather acrimonious split. He knew, in his heart of hearts, that the woman he had chosen to accompany him to the top was probably the worst decision he had ever made in his life. His blue-blooded family members always looked down on her, anyway.

After the split, Sarah suddenly became even more the media darling. Book deals. Television shows. Documentaries. Endorsements. The money was rolling in hand over foot. Trouble was lurking on the horizon, though. She LOVED to spend it faster than she made it. Not satisfied with a comfortable life, she demanded to travel in private planes, with an entourage, security, dressers, nannies, gophers. She actually thought that, having been his partner, people really cared what she thought. Outside a small, loyal following, though, most people just wished she would get of the stage and stop embarrassing the nation. Every utterance is now the cause of derisive laughter. She is making a major fool of herself.

Obviously not bright, Sarah thinks she is clever. Obviously a fame whore, she jets from speech to speech.

Sarah will end up at the bottom of the pile again. The income will dry up. Those spendthrift shopping sprees will come back to haunt her.

Sarah Palin? Sarah Ferguson?

The parallels are shocking! As well as amusing…