War on Iraq

News and analysis on Sunni, Shiites, Kurds, oil, Blackwater, terrorism, anti-war protests, and troop withdrawal debates. Comprehensive coverage available here.

Why Is it Different When Americans Rape?
Posted by Byard Duncan, AlterNet on May 22, 2009 at 2:22 PM.

Now that Steven Green, the former U.S. soldier convicted of raping and killing 14-year-old Abeer Qasim Hamza Al-Janabi, has ducked the death penalty, it's worth asking how we've contextualized his actions in terms of our own cultural assumptions. In a TIME article published yesterday, Green's deeds are labeled "outrageous" and among "the most notorious crimes conducted by U.S. servicemen during the Iraq War." The article, titled "When a Soldier Commits Murder: Life in Prison for Steven Green" seems baffled by its own findings: An American guilty of unspeakable acts of brutality - -- how could this be possible?

CNN has parroted this mock innocence. In a May 18 story, they painted a picture of Green's childhood as "troubled and stressful." Green's story, according to his attorneys, is one of a "broken soldier," caught up in a series of circumstances that pushed him over the edge. He is to be understood as a victim of circumstance. An anomaly in an otherwise tidy, structured framework of ideals.

Given such sensitive scrutiny over Green's case, it's a bit surprising to look back to another TIME article -- this one published exactly six years ago -- that treats an identical crime in a very different manner.

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Rumsfeld's Pentagon Published Bible Verses on Top-Secret Intel Reports
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on May 18, 2009 at 10:23 AM.

In a lengthy article on Donald Rumsfeld’s rocky tenure as Defense Secretary, GQ published never-before-seen cover sheets from top-secret intelligence briefings produced by Rumsfeld’s Pentagon. Starting in the days surrounding the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the cover sheets featured inspirational Bible verses printed over military images, “and were delivered by Rumsfeld himself to the White House” to the president, “who referred to America’s war on terror as a ‘crusade,’” GQ writes. Below are some examples of the Bible quotes (view the images here):

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” [The quote appears over an image of a tank at sunrise]

“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” [The quote appears over an image of a soldier in Baghdad]

“It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.” [The quote appears over an image of Saddam Hussein]

“Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, The nation that keeps faith.” [The quote appears over an image of tanks entering an Iraqi city]

GQ’s Robert Draper writes that when colleagues complained to the Pentagon official who came up with the cover sheets, he replied, “‘my seniors’ — JCS chairman Richard Myers, Rumsfeld, and the commander in chief himself – appreciated the cover pages.”

Fact: We Tortured to Justify War
Posted by tristero, Hullabaloo on May 15, 2009 at 11:23 AM.

Many of us realized a while ago that the real purpose of all the torture Bush and Cheney ordered was to elicit false information of an al Qaeda/Saddam connection that would justify an invasion of Iraq, an obsession of the Cheney circle that predated 9/11. But Joe Conason has written an especially compelling essay laying out the evidence piece by piece.

There simply is no good reason why the leading members of the Bush administration who ordered, justified, and implemented torture should not stand trial. And many good reasons why they should.

'Daily Show' Takes on Army, White House Over Gay Translator's Firing
Posted by Alex Leo, Huffington Post on May 15, 2009 at 10:02 AM.

A storm is brewing over President Obama's refusal to intercede on the behalf of Dan Choi, an Arabic translator and lieutenant in the U.S. Army who was just dismissed for being gay. Choi went on the "Rachel Maddow Show" last week and said he intends "to fight it tooth and nail," and that this kind of behavior "weakens the military." 54 Arabic translators (and hundreds more servicemen) have been dismissed from the Army due to their sexuality.

Jon Stewart excoriated President Bush for his policies and President Obama for flip-flopping on the issue, saying:

"So it was okay to waterboard a guy 80 times but God forbid the guy who could understand what that prick was saying has a boyfriend? Waterboarding may make a prisoner talk, but it ain't gonna make him talk English."

He then introduced the following segment on the issue, in which John Oliver supported the Army's choice with the "he's gay" defense. He eventually screamed at Stewart saying, "I will not let you Cramer me."

Gen. McChrystal's Rise: More Secrets, Less Daylight in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Posted by Tom Hayden, The Nation on May 14, 2009 at 7:38 AM.

All along there were two US wars in Iraq. There was the public war, in which the Pentagon tried to manipulate the mainstream media into being a “message amplifier,” while some intrepid reporters and bloggers fought back. Then there was the secret war carried out by the Special Operations forces, whose existence was denied even by the Pentagon.

Now the secret operations threaten to completely compromise what remains of the public war in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the ascension of Gen. Stanley McChrystal to top commander from his classified role in running Special Ops in Iraq for five years.

When questioned by the media or senators presiding at his confirmation hearing in a few weeks, Gen. McChrystal may have a simple answer to anything troubling: sorry, that is classified.

The mystique of secrecy may come to shroud all public inquiry about Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are questions to be answered, however.

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Obama Administration Flip-Flops, Won't Release Detainee Abuse Photos
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on May 13, 2009 at 12:38 PM.

Last month, the Pentagon agreed to comply with a court order and release dozens of photos showing abuse of detainees by American captors. Now the White House has reversed course, and will object to the court order:

The president “believes their release would endanger our troops,” a White House official says, adding that the president “believes that the national security implications of such a release have not been fully presented to the court.”

Yesterday, conservatives were outraged about the potential release, claiming that the photos would incite future terrorists. Of course, at the very same time, they ardently defended the actual tactics depicted in the photos.

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Dick Cheney Desperately Wants to Bomb Iran
Posted by Satyam Khanna, Think Progress on May 13, 2009 at 8:45 AM.

Yesterday, former Vice President Cheney “swung quietly” through New York City to watch Liz Cheney, his daughter and a former State Department official, debate Iran policy. Continuing his long advocacy for military strikes to halt Iran’s nuclear program, Cheney said at a dinner after the debate that the only way for President Obama’s diplomacy with Iran to work is if Obama also threatens to bomb the country:

The former Vice President characterized the Iranian goal in negotiations on ending that country’s nuclear program as mere stalling for time, and the Europeans as trying to “restrain the U.S.” from military action. “Everybody’s in a giant conspiracy to achieve a different objective than the one we want to achieve,” Cheney said. The negotiations are “bound to fail unless we are perceived as very credible” in threatening military action against Iran, he said.

“If they believe the threat of military force is on the table that’s frankly the only thing I’ve seen that convinces them they’d better get serious about sanctions,” Liz Cheney said during her debate.

Army Lt. Discharged Under DADT Writes to Obama: 'I Beg You Today: Do Not Fire Me'
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on May 12, 2009 at 10:34 AM.

Last week, the U.S. Army discharged National Guard Lt. Daniel Choi — who served in Iraq and is fluent in Arabic — because he came out of the closet as a gay man. “Why didn’t I just shut up and not say anything?” Choi asked. Because “the Army values teach us, have courage, take personal courage, stand up, don’t lie, be honest about who you are,” he said. Choi said he would fight his dismissal “tooth and nail” and now he has written Congress and President Obama “begging” them not to fire him:

As an infantry officer, I am not accustomed to begging. But I beg you today: Do not fire me. Do not fire me because my soldiers are more than a unit or a fighting force – we are a family and we support each other. We should not learn that honesty and courage leads to punishment and insult. Their professionalism should not be rewarded with losing their leader. I understand if you must fire me, but please do not discredit and insult my soldiers for their professionalism.

When I was commissioned I was told that I serve at the pleasure of the President. I hope I have not displeased anyone by my honesty. I love my job. I want to deploy and continue to serve with the unit I respect and admire. I want to continue to serve our country because of everything it stands for.

Please do not wait to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Please do not fire me.

Army officer Sandy Tsao also wrote to Obama after she told her superiors she was gay and asked him to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Obama personally responded, writing, “I committed to changing our current policy. Although it will take some time to complete. … I intend to fulfill my commitment!” (HT: AmericaBlog)

Gates' Afghanistan Shake-Up: General Switch Reveals Military In-Fighting
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on May 12, 2009 at 8:04 AM.

It's extremely unusual for a four-star commander of a war zone to get fired in the middle of the conflict. It's why yesterday's developments, with the Obama administration firing Gen. David McKiernan, were so striking.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced yesterday that he had requested the resignation of the top American general in Afghanistan, Gen. David D. McKiernan, making a rare decision to remove a wartime commander at a time when the Obama administration has voiced increasing alarm about the country's downward spiral.

Gates, saying he seeks "fresh thinking" and "fresh eyes" on Afghanistan, recommended that President Obama replace McKiernan with a veteran Special Operations commander, Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. His selection marks the continued ascendancy of officers who have pressed for the use of counterinsurgency tactics, in Iraq and Afghanistan, that are markedly different from the Army's traditional doctrine.

"We have a new strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador. I believe that new military leadership is also needed," Gates said at a hastily convened Pentagon news conference.

Just to be clear, in cases like these, "request the resignation" means "fired."

Under the circumstances, the first question tends to be, "What, exactly, did McKiernan to prompt this unusual move?" But that seems to be the wrong way to look at this. "Gen. McKiernan is a good man," said Jack Keane, a retired Army general who advised the Bush administration on the 2007 troop buildup in Iraq. "But he was the wrong man at the wrong time. What the war needs is a new strategy and a new plan."

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94 Billion Reasons to Rethink Afghanistan
Posted by ZP Heller, Brave New Foundation on May 11, 2009 at 11:17 AM.

US airstrikes in Afghanistan like the one that killed over 100 civilians last week have reached all-time destructive highs.  According to Air Forces Central, US warplanes dropped a record 438 bombs in Afghanistan during April.  The number of dropped bombs has increased steadily over the past few months, and just yesterday, Gen. James Jones claimed the US will continue conducting airstrikes despite President Karzai's admonishment that these bombings are counterproductive, turning Afghan civilians against the United States.  Yet as the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan continues to deteriorate, Congress will decide this week whether to approve $94.2 billion in supplemental wartime spending.

Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan like retired Corporal Rick Reyes are meeting with members of Congress early this week, urging them not to approve this massive supplemental wartime funding bill until more critical questions are answered about the war.  We still don't know, for instance, how the Obama administration intends to prevent increases in US airstrikes and military presence from becoming recruiting tools for Taliban extremists or al Qaeda terrorists.  We still don't know how the administration will be able to stop military escalation from further destabilizing a nuclear-armed Pakistan.  Nor has the administration been forthright about benchmarks or an exit strategy, or whether funding more war will hamper US economic recovery.

What we do know is that right now, President Obama appears to be following the failed policies of his predecessor in Afghanistan.  The Carnegie Endowment's Gilles Dorronsoro recently wrote that while Obama's strategy does promise more resources and the chance for a civilian surge, "when considered as a whole, this supposedly ‘new’ strategy amounts to little more than recycled policy from the late Bush years; it is a waiting strategy without any credible long-term objectives. Unfortunately, those who have so far a clear, well coordinated, and coherent strategy are the Taliban."  This grim assessment follows Dorronsoro's earlier findings in Focus and Exit: An Alternative Strategy for the Afghan War, which concluded that the increased military presence in Afghanistan has directly contributed to the Taliban insurgency, and that withdrawing troops would allow us to focus on tracking down any remaining al Qaeda terrorists who have since fled across the border into Pakistan.

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Updated: U.S. Soldier Kills 5 Troops at U.S. Base in Iraq
Posted by Liliana Segura, AlterNet on May 11, 2009 at 7:00 AM.

MSNBC reports that a U.S. soldier, who apparently suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, opened fire on a clinic at a U.S. base in Iraq, killing five soldiers and wounding three.

"NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reported the assailant took his own life after the violent outburst," according to MSNBC. "The attacker was described as a 'stressed out' U.S. soldier."

Retired Col Jack Jacobs tells MSNBC that this is evidence of the adverse effects of "repetitive tours (with) no end in sight," which "makes life very difficult" for U.S. troops.

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After the Latest U.S. Airstrike, Can Anyone Wonder Why Do 'They' Hate Us?
Posted by Liliana Segura, AlterNet on May 8, 2009 at 2:23 PM.

About a half-hour north of Jalalabad, the children along the road change. No waving. No smiling. No thumbs up. No screaming for candy. Only serious stares and empty eyes!

I have seen this in Iraq, and it's deeply uncomfortable until you get used to it -- if you get used to it. Children by nature are friendly, when they're unfriendly it's because their parents, possibly their extended family, maybe their whole community is worse than unfriendly. And the change can be fast, in the next village, yet most of the time the change comes slow. But you have to be looking. Otherwise you look up and the smiling and enthusiastic little ones are suddenly frosty and distant little ones.

-- Embedded journalist in Farah Afghanistan, March 2009

This was written during a four-day convoy ride with the Regional Corps Advisory Command of the U.S. Marines. The author, a Vietnam vet who says he has traveled to 109 countries -- including multiple trips to Afghanistan -- and "reported from more than a dozen wars," has no doubt seen his share of action. But reading it this week, days after a U.S. airstrike killed up to 130 people in Farah, Afghanistan, including 13 members of the same family, this quote from an journalist embedded with soldiers in a warzone that is escalating at this moment, is chilling.
It is a glimpse into the black and white logic that gave birth to the "War on Terror," where there is a "good" side and a "bad" side, and as long as we know where the bad guys are, perpetual war against an entire people is justifiable. Thus, if a child stares coldly at U.S. military convoys, it must be because their "parents, possibly their extended family, maybe their whole community(!)" is comprised of terrorists. Thus by the unfortunate accident of lineage and geography, they too must be terrorist in the making themselves.
Is it too obvious a point that the "frosty and distant" children who stare at U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan might do so not because "their parents, possibly their extended family, maybe their whole community is worse than unfriendly" but because "their parents, possibly their extended family, maybe their whole community" were recently slaughtered by the U.S. military, like those killed this week in Farah?

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Obama Sends Handwritten Letter to Gay Soldier Ousted From the Military Promising to Repeal DADT
Posted by Satyam Khanna, Think Progress on May 8, 2009 at 7:33 AM.

In January, Sandy Tsao, an army officer based out of St. Louis, MO, told her superiors that she is gay — a violation of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law. Tsao then wrote to President Obama, urging him to change the DADT policy: “I do hope, Mr. President, that you will help us to win the war against prejudice.” On May 5, Tsao received a handwritten letter from Obama with a pledge to repeal DADT at some point:

In the letter, Obama wrote that he is “committed to changing our current policy” but that “it will take some time to complete (partly because it needs Congressional action).” Yesterday, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), who has sponsored legislation repealing DADT, discussed the issue with Rachel Maddow, saying, “I’d like to see us move it by this summer, and I think we can.”

After US Strikes, Afghans Describe "Tractor Trailers Full of Pieces of Human Bodies"
Posted by Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports on May 7, 2009 at 7:57 AM.

As President Barack Obama prepares to send some 21,000 more US troops into Afghanistan, anger is rising in the western province of Farah, the scene of a US bombing massacre that may have killed as many as 130 Afghans, including 13 members of one family. At least six houses were bombed and among the dead and wounded are women and children. As of this writing reports indicate some people remain buried in rubble. The US airstrikes happened on Monday and Tuesday. Just hours after Obama met with US-backed president Hamid Karzai Wednesday, hundreds of Afghans—perhaps as many as 2,000— poured into the streets of the provincial capital, chanting “Death to America.” The protesters demanded a US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In Washington, Karzai said he and the US occupation forces should operate from a “higher platform of morality,” saying, “We must be conducting this war as better human beings,” and recognize that “force won’t buy you obedience.” And yet, his security forces opened fire on the demonstrators, reportedly wounding five people.

According to The New York Times:

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The Perils of Predator Drones in Pakistan
Posted by ZP Heller, Brave New Films on May 6, 2009 at 7:37 AM.

The situation in Pakistan is deteriorating by the hour. This nuclear-armed nation already plagued by political and economic turmoil now faces a massive humanitarian crisis, as 500,000 people flee the Swat valley in the face of armed conflict between Pakistani authorities and Taliban extremists who have taken control. As President Obama meets with Pakistani President Asif Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai today, the question becomes what the U.S. can do to prevent all-out war in Pakistan.

An article in The New York Times yesterday presented three potential strategies for the Obama administration to pursue in the coming weeks: 1) hasten the long-term strategy of retraining the Pakistani army to fight the counterinsurgency while upping nation-building efforts; 2) rely on more Predator drone strikes and covert ground attacks; and 3) make sure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure from the extremist threat. While the Obama administration may have its back against the wall, authorizing more Predator drone attacks is a disastrous option that must be avoided at all cost.

As David Kilcullen, the counterinsurgency expert who designed Gen. Petraeus's Iraqi surge, recently told the House Armed Services Committee, "We need to call off the drones." This covert plan, first approved by Bush (and continued by Obama) to skirt Pakistan's refusal to allow U.S. troops into the country, uses unmanned aerial drones remotely controlled by the CIA to hunt down suspected terrorists and insurgents. But as Kilcullen claimed, it's backfiring, prompting more Taliban extremists to take up arms against the U.S.-backed Pakistani government and driving them deeper into the country.

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