Soldiers and their missions, November 2006

Poster Girl, Australia - My Thanks To Mike H.


Chief Dewayne Browning
Pro-Freedom Artists

"Old guys in a new Army"

The differences between Vietnam and Iraq from Vietnam veterans working in Iraq.




Fallen Soldiers in Afghanistan Remembered - November 2006 - Drive On Canadian Forces
Monsters in the Dark

I know that they are out there, I will not be ignorant anymore
Pulling the blanket over my head
Will not keep them from coming ashore
Instead I choose to confront them
As afraid as I might be
Because if I don't stop the monsters
Our children can never be free.

Master Cpl Jeffrey Scott Walsh, 1973 - 2006

Beheading of Christian Children in Islam - Difficult Images

Saddam Hussein sentenced to death - November 05, 2006

Saddam Hussein sentenced to death by hanging MidEast.JPost

Saddam Guilty, Sentenced to Hang - WCSH-TV

Saddam To Get Death Sentence Sunday - Alaska Report

Saddam Hussein Sentenced to Death

Saddam Hussein Sentenced to Death - Washington Post Foreign Service November 5, 2006; 5:32 AM

Hussein was convicted of ordering the killings of 148 men and boys from the town of Dujail, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, following a failed assassination attempt against him there in 1982. Hussein's presidential convoy was passing through the town when it was shot at. In response, he and other top Iraqi officials at the time order the round-up of hundreds of people, and the town's buildings were razed and it's orchards destroyed.

Ten of the people executed were boys ranging in ages from 11 to 17 at the time of the incident. The government held them in jail until they were 18, then hanged them.

The verdict climaxed a 12-month trial, conducted by the Iraqi High Tribunal and backed by the U.S. government, that arose from one of many atrocities Hussein is accused of committing during 24 years of brutal, one-man rule.

[...]Sajjad Abdul Hussein Ali, a Shiite Turcoman in the northern city of Kirkuk who had three brothers executed by Hussein in the early 1980s, called the verdict "the final show, and a triumph for all the families that were victimized by the Saddam regime."

"Reconciliation will not succeed without executing him and putting an end to a dark, dirty period of our modern history, so that this will be a lesson to all dictators and tyrants," he said. "Let them know that killers shall be killed, and tyrants shall be severely punished by God."

[...]Hussein is currently on trial in a second case, charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for the killings of as many as 100,000 Kurds, many with poison gas, in the co-called Anfal campaign in 1987 and 1988. If the appeals panel rules against him and upholds his death sentence in the Dujail, Hussein could be executed before the conclusion of the second trial.

If these judges find grounds to question the judgment, Saddam will face another trial. If not, the sentence imposed this weekend will stand and be carried out within 30 days. Saddam and his seven co-defendants were put on trial for the killing of 148 Shi’ites from Dujail.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gestures during a press conference after meeting tribal chiefs of Amarah province, flanked by unidentified tribal chiefs, in Baghdad Saturday Nov. 4, 2006. Iraq's prime minister on Saturday said the verdict in Saddam Hussein's first trial would be handed down on Sunday and that he hoped the former leader will be given "what he deserves." (AP Photo/Mahmoud Shehab, Pool)

Photo and more in dept article Iraq Urges Calm Ahead of Saddam Verdict - ABC news International
"

We are preparing to celebrate tomorrow if he is sentenced to death," said al-Haidari, who lost seven members of his family to Saddam's alleged collective punishment of the city.

"Today we will remain awake waiting hour after hour for the verdict" he said. "We hope he will be executed here, where he committed his crime."

"We warn anyone who intends to exploit this event that our response will be tough and severe," Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the Interior Ministry spokesmanKhalaf said.

Court ruling session against Saddam Hussein begins - Kuwait News Agency, Kuna

Saddam sentenced to hang
The Independant - AP

Saddam, wearing a dark grey suit and white shirt, initially refused to stand before judge Rauf Abdel Rahman as the verdict and sentence were read out. But he was brought to his feet by two bailiffs.

"You are servants of the occupiers, you are traitors," he said. "Life for us and death to our enemies, death to the enemies of the people.

"Long live this glorious nation and death to the enemies".

Judge Rahman said curtly to the court officials: "Take him out."

See also by the Independant The life and Times of Saddam Hussein

Saddam and his half brother to hang - International Herald Tribute

In Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, 1,000 people defied the curfew and carried pictures of the city's favorite son through the streets.

Some declared the court a product of the U.S. "occupation forces" and decried the verdict.

"By our souls, by our blood we sacrifice for you Saddam" and "Saddam your name shakes America."

People were celebrating in the streets of Dujail, a Tigris River city of 84,000, as the verdict was read. They burned pictures of their former tormentor.

Celebratory gunfire also rang out in Kurdish neighborhoods across the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where taxi driver Khatab Ahmed sat on a mattress in his living room to watch trial coverage with his wife and six children.

"Thank God I lived to see the day when the criminals received their punishment," the 40-year-old exclaimed on hearing of Saddam's death sentence.

I have never been for the death penalty but in the case of a mass murderer at the head of a nation, there is no punishment that could be more appropriate.
Finally true justice.

'Desire No Shackles' in Chicago

Edited.

Even in the Age of Information, it would seem that not all information is created equal. We have seen this in the closing of a successful 3-year-old production of Mozart's opera 'Idomeneo', because as Berlin police said, it posed 'incalculable risk' of inciting Islamic fundamentalists to violence. These and other acts of cultural and artistic intimidation are a stark reminder that censorship throbs with power while the lifeblood of art is wrung dry.

Last year, outrage from Muslim students led Harper College, located just outside Chicago, to remove an exhibition of works by Amir Normandi depicting the oppression women suffer in many Islamic countries. Partly in response, Normandi, an Iranian-born Muslim, has curated a new exhibition of works by local and international artists entitled, 'Desire No Shackles, / 'Imagine No Borders', to examine oppression, and the notion of borders in Islam and other contexts.

Featured artists: Amir Normandi, Maryam Hashemi, Marcia Middleton Kaplan, Tim Arroyo, Diane Carriere, Rosy Torres.


Please help us strike a blow to censorship and promote freedom of expression and artistic integrity by posting this event on your blog.

For more info on the events and on the artists, see 'Desire No Shackles / 'Imagine No Borders'

Violence, cultural or religious?

Honour killing, cultural hell
The Killing Zone - September 20, 2006

Last year, the cartoons and now, the Pope
Search - September 19, 2006
Updated

Female Genital Mutilation
The Killing Zone - Mai 2006

Cruel Islam and Iran is the worst
Difficult Images - Mai 2006

Photo source: Free Thoughts
The Incredible Stefania, champion of freedom.

Canada 's politics, latest by CN

When will we awake?
Colin - Search, 9/11/2006

Photo by MCpl Robert Bottrill, Canadian Forces Combat Camera

Layton defines shallow.

The following is the email I sent to Mr. Radwanski that does not likely require further explanation.

Hello Mr. Radwanski.

Thanks for your article that shows the beginning of your reality check on our friend Mr. Layton. However, you let him off the hook so easily that I fear you are likely a bit of an NDP partisan.

Way back, I was a lifeguard at our yacht club pool in Hudson and Jack was an energetic 11/12 year old swimming like a fish and constantly on the move. I liked him and all the kids enjoying summer! So, I knew him well.

That said, as a reporter you should do a little more work on your subject before expressing your opinions. For example, you note that 'for whatever reason', the leader is 'obsessed' with breaking through in Quebec .

You should read what he says about his grandfather in rebuttal to charges he is a typical no-war NDPer - a charge laid when the first Afghan debate was about to get underway, to get a sense of what is behind this passion.

Second, he is Quebecer like me and he fancies himself as understanding what Quebecers want and need. Third, his dad Robert was a conservative cabinet member, elected in Quebec and there are many other family members who distinguished themselves provincially and nationally. I think you get the point as to why he is obsessed.

You dismiss his outrageous suggestion that we begin negotiations with the Taliban and oh, yes, "cut and run" by February as simply a "complete betrayal of his party's usual commitment to human rights and women's rights in particular".

It is well beyond a mere change in party policy. It is a betrayal of our men and women in the CF, a betrayal of our commitment to NATO and a betrayal of Canada 's history.

You have to be living in a very thick, opaque bubble to even imagine that this position is acceptable to anyone beyond the extreme fringe of the NDP party. Sorry I should qualify this as the over 90% endorsement of the 'pull out' resolution shows, however it also proves my point. The entire party is fringe on foreign policy issues

Further, his declaration (as if his statement of something makes it true) that we are a nation of peacekeepers is so utterly at odds with Canada's proud military history and a misreading of that bedrock liberal and NDP delusion about "peacekeeping" itself. Again read any reputable assessment of the peacekeeping missions undertaken since Mr. Pearson's initial foray and you will be hard pressed to find kind words from anyone about the value, effectiveness or utility of any of these missions.

I worked at DND (civilian) for years and on many occasions debated this issue with the most senior military and civilian cadre possible. To bring the peacekeeping issue and missions up to current times (vice say Cyprus ) and you will find nothing but failure - see General Delaire, see Bosnia , see anything that General Mackenzie has to say - again you probably get the point.

Other that that, your article was, shallow at best.

Sincerely,

Colin Nelson, cnjournal
Ottawa

An Arab Speaks Out

This apology must be read everywhere and by everybody.

ONE ARAB'S APOLOGY
By EMILIO KARIM DABUL
September 12, 2006
Hat tip LGF

WELL, here it is, five years late, but here just the same: an apology from an Arab-American for 9/11. No, I didn't help organize the killers or contribute in any way to their terrible cause. However, I was one of millions of Arab-Americans who did the unspeakable on 9/11: nothing.

The only time I raised my voice in protest against these men who killed thousands of innocents in the name of Allah was behind closed doors, among the safety of friends and family. I did at one point write a very vitriolic essay condemning their actions, but fear of becoming another Salman Rushdie kept me from ever trying to publish it.

Well, I'm sick of saying the truth only in private - that Arabs around the world, including Arab-Americans like myself, need to start holding our own culture accountable for the insane, violent actions that our extremists have perpetrated on the world at large.

Yes, our extremists and our culture.

Every single 9/11 hijacker was Arab and a Muslim. The apologists (including President Bush) tried to reassure us that 9/11 had nothing to do with Islam, but was a twisting of a great and noble religion. With all due respect, read the Koran, Mr. President. There's enough there for someone of extreme tendencies to find their way to a global jihad... Read it all.

Emilio Karim Dabul, New Jersey, freelance writer and PR consultant.

***

Thank you Emilio Karim Dabul.
Hopefully others will be inspired by your courage and integrity.

The Price of Freedoom

Photo, AFP / Getty Images

August 02, 2006 was the first anniversary of Steven's brutal death

Steven Vincent: Bloggers remember one of their own

In New York about two weeks ago, I had the privilege to meet with Lisa Ramaci-Vincent. We talked about the wonderful man Steven was, the profound marks he left behind and the recognition he received during his life and after his tragic death. He was an honest and gifted writer known to be attentive to those he met. He was a successful art critic in New York but touched by the horrors of September 11, exactly five years ago today, Steven Vincent decided to leave for Iraq. He devoted his time to follow the reconstruction but was savagely murdered in Basra during his third trip on August 02, 2005.

Admired by many, Steven always maintained a dignified humility in life. He will always be deeply missed.

Image: Cox & Forkum Steven Vincent -August 05,2005


A few days ago, Iraqi journalist Ali Fadhil gave a brief TV interview on one of the major news broadcaster. I think it was on CNN.

Most of the content of this interview can be found in an article Mr. Fadhil published on September 6, 2006. Iraq’s Endangered Journalists

During the interview, Mr. Fadhil describes the perils that Iraqi journalists are facing every day. He is genuinely and quite understandingly concerned for the safety of Iraqi journalists and for the freedom of the press.

While, in his article in The New York time, he recognizes that "building a free press in Iraq was one of America’s greatest achievements" he explains how the situation has been dangerously degrading since. He also reports that American soldiers are responsible for the death of 14 Iraqi journalists.

Towards the end of the TV interview Fadhil is asked to comment on freedom of speech during Saddam's reign. Visibly relieved, he strongly admits that freedom of the press and freedom of movement have hugely improved since the fall of the regime.

Ali Fadhil's devotion to his country is commendable and his worries regarding the freedom of the press are quite understandable but I wished that during his TV interview he had found something to say about the enormous efforts that brought him the new freedoms he so wants to keep.

We hear too little on the price we must pay to guarantee our liberties and we hear hardly nothing on the sacrifices America made to this day to free Iraq from its decades of violence and nightmarish regime. We are however constantly reminded of the growing discontent with American policies in Iraq and elsewhere and America's "mistakes".

We all know that the difficulties in Iraq are mostly due to terrorism of internal and external origins and to the struggle between Iraqis themselves. Meanwhile the Arab media and MSM have been consistently leading a dishonest coverage of the war. All this goes well with this blind hatred for Bush's administration but surely does not help Iraq's future and everyone's interest. The challenge is to overcome all this together.

Lisa Ramaci-Vincent had something to say on one of Ali Fadhil's observation and reminded us all that Steven Vincent paid with his life for reporting a story.

Forwarded by Lisa Ramaci-Vincent

The New York Time
A Journalist’s Death
To the Editor:
September 9, 2006

While reading “Iraq’s Endangered Journalists,” by Ali Fadhil (Op-Ed, Sept. 6), I was shocked by his claim that “foreign reporters ... have the advantage of being considered untouchable by the Iraqi police and security forces.”

Might I remind Mr. Fadhil that on Aug. 2, 2005, my husband, Steven Vincent, an American journalist living in and writing from Basra, was kidnapped and killed by five men in police uniforms?

Two days before Steven’s murder, The New York Times ran an Op-Ed article he wrote in which he disclosed how the British Army was ignoring both the infiltration of the Basra police force by Iranian-backed Shiite militias, and the resulting spike in fundamentalist violence. He specifically mentioned the white police vehicles used to abduct and kill an ever increasing number of people; two days later, one of those vehicles came for him.

Steven thus has the dubious distinction of being one of the few foreign journalists in this Iraq conflict specifically targeted for execution.

Lisa Ramaci-Vincent
New York, Sept. 7, 2006

All photos apart from the Wreath and Cox & Forkums image were taken a couple weeks ago at ground zero.
My thanks to Lisa and Cowboy for welcoming me in Mahnattan.

Diane