micah holmquist's irregular thoughts and links |
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Welcome to the musings and notes of a Cadillac, Michigan based writer named Micah Holmquist, who is bothered by his own sarcasm. Please send him email at micahth@chartermi.net. Holmquist's full archives are listed here.
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Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution) Aljazeera.Net English Blogs that for one reason or another Holmquist would like to read on at least something of a regular basis (always in development) Thivai Abhor |
Monday, May 31, 2004
Beyond parody Three days ago a caller to The Rush Limbaugh Show essentially said John Kerry shouldn't have been allowed to criticize the U.S. intervention in Vietnam because it was two Democrats who intensified that war. The caller also went on to say that at least Dems like JFK knew that the U.S. could not afford to lose in Vietnam. "You don't know how right you are," Limbaugh responded. Was the caller playing a joke? I hope so. What about Limbaugh? Well, that would explain a lot. Sunday, May 30, 2004
Saturday, May 29, 2004
There's a lot I feel like I should write about or at least make mention of, but, due to time constraints, I will limit it to four items... -In an AP story published today, Robert Tanner writes about the investigation into the abuse of Iraqi prisoners: WHO: Several military intelligence officers already are under scrutiny. The original Army report that led to the arrests of the seven reservists stationed at Abu Ghraib laid a large share of the blame on Col. Thomas M. Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, and Lt. Col. Steve L. Jordan, former director of the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center at the prison.Great reporting (assuming it is true) but notice how it assumes that the occupation is a just cause. -"A Discussion with a Kerry Supporter" is my latest Press Action piece and perhaps one of the better ones I've done. On the humor tip, here's Adam Kotsko: I am tired of hearing liberal hawks talk about how great an idea the Iraq War was and lamenting that the execution was bad. Yes, the idea of toppling an evil dictator and building a society with liberty and justice for all is appealling. So is the idea of owning a Green Lantern power ring.LOL -Kim Sengupta of The Independent reports on the war of Afghanistan (May 25) -"The choice of Iyad Allawi, closely linked to the CIA and formerly to MI6, as the Prime Minister of Iraq from 30 June will make it difficult for the US and Britain to persuade the rest of the world that he is capable of leading an independent government," Patrick Cockburn writes in today's Independent. "He is the person through whom the controversial claim was channelled that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction could be operational in 45 minutes." I suspect Fred Barnes can't wait to start criticizing this guy. Friday, May 28, 2004
Trent Lott has come out in favor of torture. Political analysts are saying it was a good move for Lott to avoid saying, "shit, me and my uncle did more than that to one of those coloreds just last weekend." Thursday, May 27, 2004
Henry must be proud Henry Kissinger was born on this day in 1923. As he celebrates his 81st birthday, I hope Henry, a tireless defender of human rights, can take a degree of pride in the images of U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqis and how the U.S. has responded by reportedly banning picture phones and discipling a soldier who spoke out about the abuse and even went against the party line by saying abuse was standard practice. Wednesday, May 26, 2004
My apology The terrorists may soon be attacking freedom and I have to confess that yesterday I forgot to pray for the safety of America, President Bush and the brave men and women who keep us free. I understand that if anything bad happens from now till I believe May 25, 2005, that it will be my fault because I did not petition God to not allow it to happen. Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Hey, it is a bit late to expect me to say things that make sense "The failure of freedom would only mark the beginning of peril and violence." Monday, May 24, 2004
More on the porn for the hawkish soul Just days after some new fuel for jingoistic masturbation emerged, Scott Higham, Joe Stephens and Josh White write in yesterday's Washington Post report: A military lawyer for a soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib abuse case stated that a captain at the prison said the highest-ranking U.S. military officer in Iraq was present during some "interrogations and/or allegations of the prisoner abuse," according to a recording of a military hearing obtained by The Washington Post.More American heroes. *** "More than 5,500 Iraqis died violently in just Baghdad and three provinces in the first 12 months of the occupation, an Associated Press survey found. The toll from both criminal and political violence ran dramatically higher than violent deaths before the war, according to statistics from morgues," Daniel Cooney and Omar Sinan write in an AP story from yesterday. "America and Britain have the statistical resources to compute with clinical accuracy the number of pollen grains floating in the air. Yet these two states say they cannot tell anyone how many Iraqi civilians have died in the 14 months since the Iraq conflict began in March last year. As the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, conceded in an interview with The Independent last week, this ignorance is 'odd'," David Randall writes in yesterday's Independent. The problem is that we don't get all this good shit on film. Without out that, what's the point of a "recording"? *** God Bless President Bush for Protecting Us from Evil like that Practiced by the United States! *** Sunday, May 23, 2004
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Media hilarity The media has certainly done its part to entertain me over the last two days. On Thursday, Deputy Director for Coalition Operations Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said this about the "wedding party" raid: I am persuaded that, again, the purposes that caused us to conduct that operation in the middle of the barren desert in the early mornings (sic) of the hour, which is kind of an odd time to be having a wedding, against what we believed to be 34 to 35 men and a number of women, less than a handful of women, which doesn't seem to be numbers that one would associate with a wedding, by a group in their four-by- fours, well away from any town, in a known RAT line, which is being used by smugglers and foreign fighters frequently, and other intelligence that we found on the ground, pretty well convinces us that what got us there had a valid purpose.LOL By the way, as Mike Rogers points out, a cover-up isn't out of the question. In the same briefing, Dan Senor, Senior Adviser of the Coalition Provisional Authority, got involved in this exchange: Q Hello. (Name inaudible) -- Four Corners Media. Were you aware that two days ago the museum in Nasiriyah was burned and looted, possibly by the Mahdi Army? And there's continued looting at sites all over the south of Iraq including reports of about 200 looters a night at Uma (sp). And I'm wondering why this is still happening a year after the war ended and what plan you have in place to stop it.Funny how not too many mayors run for reelection by bragging about how they have reduced looting every year that they've been in office. Later on Thursday, Nancy Pelosi's not exactly complimentary statement about Bush was the top story on Hannity & Colmes. "Just how much more vicious can they get?" Sean Hannity asked as the audience at home got to see the smiling face of Ann Coulter. I hope I'm not the only person who found this amusing. The fun continued yesterday. If evolution, how come we're not "idiot gorillas?" Rush Limbaugh ostensibly asked on his program yesterday. Here's what John Rennie had to say on this matter in an article entitled "15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense" from the July 2002 edition of Scientific American: 6. If humans descended from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?If Rush could be wrong, I just don't know what to believe. Later, on the radio, I heard Hannity telling Arianna Huffington that she and her "rich Hollywood friends" should start their own automobile company if they want people to start driving more fuel-efficient vehicles, as if the entry costs were not prohibitively high. Bored with Hannity but still having a few more minutes of driving to kill, I turned to WorldNetDaily RadioActive in order to hear host Joseph Farah assert that OutKast was a "gangster rap" group as well as that Bill Clinton and Sister Souljah were friends and fascism is bound to be the response the presumed immorality of the U.S. *** The above examples are all good, but I'm most impressed by the opening graf of Jack Wheeler column from yesterday's Washington Times: We know conclusively that the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal is as phony as a Bill Clinton sex denial because there are no calls for the resignation of the one individual most responsible for the abuses.Words fail to describe the laughter this should provoke. Friday, May 21, 2004
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Notes for today By any reasonable standard, this is not news, although it perhaps does point to what to expect if such an attack ever does happen. In a Creators Syndicate column from Tuesday, David Limbaugh expresses the common view that the U.S. had no reason to think it could face an attack before September 11, 2001. "The Sept. 11 massacres jolted us into the reality that we are not invulnerable to attack on our own land despite our status as the world's lone superpower." I feel bad for any adult who actually didn't realize before September 11, 2001 that the U.S. was vulnerable to attacks or that there might be some people who, for some reason or another, would want to target Uncle Sam. Most who use this type of rhetoric, I suspect, don't believe it, but those who do were ignorant and/or not very intelligent, qualities that I doubt have changed very much. If the U.S. is hit with biological or chemical weapons, I fully expect to read stuff like, "September 11 should have alerted us to the fact that America faces dangers. It is most unfortunate that it in fact took a second attack to show just how much the terrorists hate freedom. We owe to the memories of all Americans struck down by the forces of evil to never let this happen again. *** On a similar note, here's a Reuters story by Adam Entous on how Bush is "rushing" to demonstrate what exactly the June 30 handover will entail. Um I think it is safe to say that whatever Bush is doing with regard to this matter, that "rushing" is not part of the equation. *** Chalabi apparently is no longer of any use to those who run Iraq. Expect to hear hawks talking about how he evil Chalabi was and is before too long. *** Green Party Presidential Candidate David Cobb says he doesn't want to hurt Kerry's chance of beating Bush. No comment needed. *** The news from the land controlled by Israel is certainly depressing. Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Wedding death It didn't take the men and women who keep us safe and free in Afghanistan over a year to kill the celebrants as it did in Iraq. On the other hand, the brave fighting men and women in Iraq may have gotten more target practice since they did more than merely drop a bomb. I would call it even, by that standard. However, in light of how the July 1, 2002 total represented a 42% decrease in the number of wedding goers killed compared to a similar incident that took place less than seven months earlier, it appears like the boys and girls in Afghanistan were getting lazy while our troops in Iraq were just warming up and hopefully will be able to improve upon their score. Advantage Iraq! Tuesday, May 18, 2004
(Occupation) Notes for May 18, 2004 I'm certainly not coming out for the U.S. military deciding who gets to have the cool weapons and who doesn't, but if that is going to be the policy of the U.S., as many people apparently ostensibly want it to be, it makes absolutely no sense to not prioritize controlling such weapons. This isn't a difficult concept to grasp and yet I suspect that it has never crossed the minds of most supporters of the "war on terror," people who, as sad as this might be, will get all worked up in an illogical manner whenever someone in power tells them to and then, just as quickly, will never give the "threat" a second thought once they are no longer told to fear it. *** On a less serious note, because it doesn't have a direct impact on the good Americans, Nigel Morris writes in the May 13 edition of The Independent: The number of babies born deformed and children suffering leukaemia have soared because of the "deadly legacy" of depleted uranium shells used by British and American forces in Iraq, human rights campaigners claimed yesterday.Glad this doesn't make the news in land of the free and the home of the brave. I say these Iraqis should be thankful they are alive. *** Monday, May 17, 2004
Retraction I've ridiculed the idea that Saddam's now deposed regime posed a threat to the United States, but I stand corrected. Deputy Director for Coalition Operations Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt explained today we are fighting in Iraq against the threat that with more production of chemical weapons and better training those who oppose the U.S. occupation could harm occupation forces.. How I managed to sleep at night while I opposed dealing with this deadly threat to our very lives is beyond me. This shit is so goddamn funny I hope the cautionary words coming from Blix and Rummy turn out to be misplaced. It would be great to hear Bush try to defend this and now claim that he is worried... until it becomes clear that people are buying it. Sunday, May 16, 2004
In an article from the May 24 issue of The New Yorker, Seymour Hersh writes, "The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had been focused on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld’s decision embittered the American intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of élite combat units, and hurt America’s prospects in the war on terror." Note this graf: Rumsfeld, during appearances last week before Congress to testify about Abu Ghraib, was precluded by law from explicitly mentioning highly secret matters in an unclassified session. But he conveyed the message that he was telling the public all that he knew about the story. He said, “Any suggestion that there is not a full, deep awareness of what has happened, and the damage it has done, I think, would be a misunderstanding.” The senior C.I.A. official, asked about Rumsfeld’s testimony and that of Stephen Cambone, his Under-Secretary for Intelligence, said, “Some people think you can bullshit anyone." The Pentagon has issued a denial. *** Instead, I suggest Judgment (André van Heerden, 2001), an end times movie with Corbin Bernsen and Mr. T where we find out that One Nation Earth is able to track everybody but doesn't think there's anything odd about a beat-up late 1980s passenger van being parked near a prominent government building. Saturday, May 15, 2004
"As much as $130 billion may have been lost due to corruption in World Bank loans, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Thursday," Harry Dunphy of the AP writes in a May 13 story. "In a speech at the start of hearings on the multilateral development banks, [Senator Richard]Lugar quoted expert estimates that between $26 billion and $130 billion in bank loans has been misused since 1946, when the organization started lending." Friday, May 14, 2004
My advice? Go here and download Bob Odenkirk's Life on Mars. After watching that enjoy some Sonic Youth. (Be really cool and run more than one window and create a hybrid of joy.) Thursday, May 13, 2004
Bringing out the best in America Hard times always bring out the best in this great country of ours. The horrific murder of Nick Berg has lead to Americans looking honesty and intelligently at "their" government's role in the world. Similarly the revelation that the public may not have seen the worst of the photos showing Uncle Sam's finest abusing Iraqis has brought out a wave of interest in keeping the U.S. government in check. Why just today on I saw, in an apparent response to this New York Times article, Linda Vester justify "harsh" interrogation techniques on the basis of "September 11." Vester even showed us a photo from that day. Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
News and notes on America's continued delivery of In related news, followers of Muqtada al-Sadr have reportedly stepped up their insurgency in southern Iraq. Why these people don't just accept America's gift of liberty is beyond me. *** "Some of the deaths of prisoners in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan have been ruled homicides. Others were attributed to natural causes. Many of the case are unexplained," John J. Lumpkin of the AP writes in a May 8 story. "Army officials say they are looking into at least 25 prisoner deaths since December 2002." *** Although Bush says that he is sorry for “the terrible and horrible acts,” and Rumsfeld says that he takes “full responsibility,” the president continues to express confidence in his defense secretary, and the secretary says that he has no intention to step down. Which is to say, neither of these men foresees bearing any real personal cost whatsoever, aside from the momentary embarrassment, the political discomposure, and the time expended in spinning the issue for Congress and the public. Meanwhile the administration is working overtime to pin the blame on some low-level patsies so that everybody can get on with campaigning for Bush’s reelection.Goddamn Iraqis get in the way of their own liberation. *** *** Abuse was "part of the process." *** Here's the Red Cross report on Iraqi prisons. *** Since it appears that the abuse of Iraqi prisoners was systematic, it is a mistake to only blame individuals, and that includes Bush and Rummy. *** Jim Lobe of IPS provides a valuable history lesson on U.S. power. *** Monday, May 10, 2004
More on America's delivery of God's gift of freedom Seymour Hersh's latest New Yorker report, complete with a new picture, reportedly fueled Bush's anger. Apparently "superb job" Rummy's warning that more photos and moving pictures of U.S. troops giving the shit end of the stick to Iraqis or the possibility of the abuse involving rape and murder wasn't enough to get Bush interested. Nope, he needed the release of more pictures. What an asshole. *** Thank whatever God you do or don't believe it that these are only isolated incidents. I mean what's the big deal? These are just good red-blooded American boys and girls having a little fun. That sure ain't something that ought to be a crime. Sunday, May 09, 2004
Saturday, May 08, 2004
Friday, May 07, 2004
Thursday, May 06, 2004
The final episode of Friends airs tonight. I plan to cry like I was in Nigeria because I have only seen one episode of this obviously brillant show and now I will never be able to see another. Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
As Americans always say, punishment doesn't deter crime In a Reuters story published less than a hour ago, Alan Elsner writes: Two Iraqi prisoners were murdered by Americans and 23 other deaths are being investigated in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States revealed on Tuesday as the Bush administration tried to contain growing outrage over the abuse of Iraqi detainees...That's how much an Iraqi life is worth apparently. Wasn't there a time when Bush favored the death penalty? The story also has this graf: "The actions of the soldiers in those photographs are totally unacceptable and un-American," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said of humiliating images in the media of Iraqi prisoners. "Any who engaged in such action let down their comrades who serve honorably each day and they let down their country."Yep Iraqis aren't worth a shit so don't worry about them, our brave fighting men and women are the ones who are really harmed by this. More... The BBC reports that some doubt has been cast upon the photos that are at least purported to show British troops abusing detained Iraqis. (more...) The sources of the photos stand by their authenticity, however. In related news... Several potential suspects rendered full and complete confessions regarding their personal involvement and the involvement of fellow soldiers in this abuse. Several potential suspects invoked their rights under Article 31 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution….The report says that included amongst the abuses are: • Punching, slapping and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet.Hey, I hear Abner liked it. Military Intelligence (MI) interrogators and other U.S. Government Agency interrogators actively requested that MP guards set physical and mental conditions for favorable interrogation of witnesses….Vicious anti-gay attitudes put into action for the good of America! There's more. -It is good to know the White House's priority is minimizing damage to their prestige. -"UN human rights investigator Paul Hunt is calling for an independent inquiry into how the U.S. military's siege of Fallujah has affected civilians," CBC News writes. "Hunt says that while reliable information is difficult to obtain, there are credible claims that U.S. forces have been guilty of serious human rights breaches in their month-long siege of the city." -"A Canadian civilian who claims he was falsely imprisoned, tortured and injured by Army interrogators shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq last year is suing the Army for $350,000," Joseph B. Frazier of the AP writes. Why so little? -" Former Iraqi human rights minister Abdel Basset Turki said US overseer Paul Bremer knew in November that Iraqi prisoners were being abused in US detention centres," writes the AFP. -"Withdrawal"? This isn't the first time I've said this but, the Bush Administration does not care about the well-being of Iraqis. UPDATE: "During the first two weeks of this month, the American army committed war crimes in Falluja on a scale unprecedented for this war. According to the relatively few media reports of what took place there, some 600 Iraqis were killed during these two weeks, among them some 450 elderly people, women and children," Orit Shohat writes in an April 28 Haaretz piece. 2:45 p.m. 05/04/04 Monday, May 03, 2004
Interesting words "Images of torture do little to win hearts and minds" is the curious title of an article by Tim Ripley that appears in today's edition of The Scotsman. You don't say. That, however, is nothing compared to the CBS News report I saw last night on the Uncle Sam's torture scandal (the word "scandal" hardly seems grave enough) that ended with the reporter saying, "it may be the image of the U.S. soldier that is suffering the most." Some professional complainers will no doubt find something to complain about in this title, but a look through the last 10 years of CBS' reports will turn up as examples that show there is nothing out of the ordinary about this comment. Some examples: -Nothing has suffered more as a result of last week's bombing in Oklahoma City more than the public's perception of white supremacist militia types." (April 26, 1995)The moral of this search is that CBS News can always be trusted to not in any way put forward the message that the lives of non-Americans are worth less than those of Americans. Human Rights Watch's April 21 statement on the secrecy surrounding the United States' treatment of detainees in Iraq sure seems silly now. *** I love how this is so often said to be "alleged" abuse. The news media would of course do the same thing if the images were of Iraqis abusing U.S. soldiers. "Well it looks bad but the Iraqis might have had a good reason for doing what they did." Sunday, May 02, 2004
"As photographs show British troops assaulting a prisoner of war, the Ministry of Defence said more than 10 claims of torture and cruelty towards Iraqi PoWs had been investigated," The Guardian writes in a May 1 story. "Five inquiries into mistreatment of prisoners were ongoing, while officials were studying the findings in other cases... Five of the investigations have been completed. Three were found to be unsubstantiated. One was passed to the special investigations board which is considering what to do. The final investigation has been passed to military prosecutors." *** "Sergeant Gary Pittman will stand trial August 9 at Camp Pendleton for his part in the death of Nagem Sadoon Hatab, a Baath Party member who died after just a few days in U.S. custody at a detention center near Nasiriyah Iraq," KFMB-TV writes in an April 30 story. *** "A Schofield Barracks soldier has been charged with murder in connection with a Feb. 28 incident during which an Iraqi civilian was shot and killed," Peter Boylan of The Honolulu Advertiser writes in an April 29 story. "On April 8, Pfc. Edward L. Richmond Jr., 20, was charged with one count of unpremeditated murder under article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Richmond is assigned to the headquarters company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry regiment." The U.S. is disorganized in Iraq, David Woods of Newhouse News Service writes in a piece dated April 30. But why should that stop Uncle Sam from tangling with Syria? *** Via Avedon Carol, here's a great piece from Terry Jones. Saturday, May 01, 2004
I woke up this mornin' and none of the news was good And death machines were rumblin' 'cross the ground where Jesus stood And the man on my TV told me that it had always been that way And there was nothin' anyone could do or say riverbend responds to the torture photographs with the appropriate level of disgust. The assholes responsible for this are a demented group as one shouldn't need any training to realize that it is wrong to treat other humans this way, even if their actions are far from the worst in the long ignoble history of humanity. But don't end the blame there. If, as military spokeswoman Col. Jill Morgenthaler has reportedly written, it is true that the six soldiers facing court martial did not have training in the Geneva Conventions and have been reassigned to other duties, then the military and those who tell them what to share in the responsibility for these acts. riverbend points out that there are probably many more acts of similar brutality that will never be publicly known. Also, it should be pointed out, they are most likely not all going to be recorded with visual images. It is worth remembering that the horrors of this war are not just in this particular act of torture but in its very design. The AP has concluded that 1,361 Iraqis were killed in April as a result of the conflict. They don't know that these lives weren't very important except to the extent that they could make us feel good about ourselves. *** *** Via tex, here's Josh Marshall on Bush's racism. *** The Brits face their own allegations of abuse. Amnesty International says these are not isolated incidents. *** "American soldiers brutalized Iraqis. How far up does the responsibility go?" asks Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker: A fifty-three-page report, obtained by The New Yorker, written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and not meant for public release, was completed in late February. Its conclusions about the institutional failures of the Army prison system were devastating. Specifically, Taguba found that between October and December of 2003 there were numerous instances of “sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses” at Abu Ghraib. This systematic and illegal abuse of detainees, Taguba reported, was perpetrated by soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company, and also by members of the American intelligence community. (The 372nd was attached to the 320th M.P. Battalion, which reported to Karpinski’s brigade headquarters.) Taguba’s report listed some of the wrongdoing:*** Israel apparently isn't missing out on the fun. *** "Why do you idiots take my administration seriously," Cheney meant to say Thursday night. "Even Fox News is more accurate than we are." |
