Or some things I could have lived without.
Still not feeling too perky.
However, I am extremely impressed that the assembled Italians know every word to this classic slice of Mudhoney. Italians are so cool.
Let there be rock!
AF
I've been sick hence no new posts. Some interesting topics on tap so stay tuned...
Merry Christmas, a belated Happy Hanukkah, a kick ass Kwanzaa, a super Solstice or whatever it is you do.
Cheers,
AF
So much outrage, so little time. I have a couple of posts in progress.
While you're waiting, Scott Horton has three typically genius posts at Harper's No Comment blog: Voltaire on the Danger of Being Right When Those in Authority Are Wrong, Vladimir Putin: Person of the Year and continued insight into the GOP 's persecutive prosecution of Alabama's former Democratic Governor: Siegelman Accuser Released
AF
MSNBC: Snub for Rice over Turkey airstrike on Iraq
Surprise, surprise.
Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State, has suffered a setback in her effort to reduce the fall-out from Turkey's recent airstrike in Iraq when a prominent Kurdish leader refused to meet her.
On Sunday, Turkey sent 50+ war planes over the northern border of Iraq to bomb suspected PKK camps. Top Turk General Yasar Buyukanit sez the US gave Turkey the green light:
Mebbe we did or mebbe we didn't. According to the Guardian, an unnamed US official offers a typically cryptic reply:
America last night opened Iraqi airspace to us. By opening Iraqi airspace to us last night America gave its approval to the operation.
We have not approved any decision. It is not for us to approve. However, we were informed before the [air strikes]. (Emphasis added)What the fucking fuck? It is not for us to approve?!?! C'mon. Our NATO ally Turkeu launches a substantial attack on our long time Kurdish allies in Iraq's most stable region. The US allows Turkey to violate Iraqi airspace. But we had nothing to do with it, didn't approve of it and claim we couldn't do anything to stop it. No one in their right mind believes this.
The blowback here in Kurdistan is building against the U.S. government because of its help with the Turkish air strikes. The theme is shock and betrayal. The Kurds see themselves as the only true friend of the Americans in the region, and the only part of Iraq that is working, and are especially hurt by the attack.The Bush Administration has committed a diplomatic and tactical blunder of epic proportions.
Apparently French news agency AFP story broke this story.
I take great exception with how AFP mischaracterized the US response to this woman's increased sentence:
The sentence against the 19-year-old girl had drawn criticism of the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom from key ally President George W. Bush.Nothing could be further from the truth (see Our Leader's Response to Saudi Rape Atrocity). Asked about his recent conversation with King Abdullah, Bush said "I don’t remember if that subject came up." Bush didn't have to broach the subject because Abdullah “knows our position loud and clear.” In other words: "I don't think I have to tell him what I think 'cuz I think he already knows what I think I think." So, in the absence of any sort of diplomacy are we to believe that Bush communicates with King Abdullah (and perhaps other heads of state) telepathically? Bush must have sensed that his comments didn't cut it. As he does with such alarming frequency, Bush veered sharply into the Strange. He turned the subject from the Saudi case to a creepy hypothetical situation involving one of the Bush daughters.
Casey said he was not aware of any specific US contacts with King Abdullah on the move, but added Washington had "made quite clear what our views were on this subject" through its embassy in Saudi Arabia and in its public statements.In stark contrast to previous administrations, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Rice and Ambassador Fraker said little and did nothing to urge King Abdullah to address this blatant miscarriage of justice. A few weak "public statements" were made not by top Bush officials but rather through their surrogate spokespeople: Dana Perino and Tom Casey. Please. We, the American people, don't take them seriously. There's no reason to believe the King of Saudi Arabia does either.
Per French news agency AFP, Saudi King Abdullah has "pardoned" the 19 year-old Shiite woman AKA the Qatif girl who was brutally raped by 5 Sunni men.
I've discussed this case at length in my series Saudi Law Can't Punish Female Victims Too Harshly & Gay Sex Is OK As Long As It's Rape By Married Men Also Raping A Woman Parts I, II and III. Though this "pardon" may be the most transparent kind of PR ploy, a kind of justice has been served.
It's justice served late and begrudgingly. The only way this could happen is due to three extraordinarily courageous people: the woman, her husband and her lawyer. Each stood up to a strict patriarchal theocracy. This was without precedent amongst those strict fundamentalist Sharia-governed Muslim countries i.e. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, etc.
Unable to properly present his case in any way whatsoever, this woman's lawyer went public with details of this atrocity and her mistreatment at the hands of the Saudi Sharia courts. Most of the world was outraged. The Sunni judges retaliated. The court increased her punishment as well as that of her attackers. Still these rapists weren't punished to the fullest extent of the law. More AFP:
A rape conviction carries the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, but the court did not impose it due to the "lack of witnesses" and the "absence of confessions," the justice ministry said last month.I guess the rapists' cell phone video didn't count.
Anger is the new black. I wanna trademark the phrase. My mind's eye sees a brisk trade in T-shirts and coffee mugs. Alas and alack, it is not to be. Money's too tight to mention. I'll settle for repeating it. A lot.
Anger is the new black. I coined the phrase commenting on the incomparable Digby's post here. She was talking about CNN's Jack Cafferty. On Thursday, apparently having mixed his meds, Cafferty had a spectacular xenophobic conniption. Digby dissects the whole sordid incident and the "new" style MSM champion. So I won't bother. She kicks her post off thusly:
I can't tell you how sick I already am of the latest incarnation of the angry, white male "star" as personified by Dobbs, Cafferty and lately (god help us) Matthews.Hear, hear. It's the rare media types like Olbermann and Stewart who use their platform to rail against injustice, hypocrisy and corruption. Dobbs, Matthews and the other bargain basement Howard Beale's have a different intent. As alpha males competing to lead the MSM's howler monkey troop, they seek the shortest path to tap into our collective zeitgeist. Their very livelihood depends on it.
The incomparable Digby has some very sharp readers. One commenter leads us to an outstanding "enhanced interrogation"... from 1638.
AF
Former CIA interrogator John Kiriakou has been all over the tube this week talking about waterboarding. What struck me was his ambivalence towards torture. To summarize his position: "torture was necessary but it now I think it was wrong." Fuck that shit. Either it's wrong or not Johnny. No grey area here.
Kiriakou attempts to rationalize torture as the end justifies the means. He specifically cites the waterboard interrogation of Abu Zubaydah claiming it:
probably disrupted "dozens" of planned al-Qaida attacksProbably disrupted? If that is in fact the case, tell us exactly which attacks were "disrupted". There is no possible security issue here (other than securing protection for the Bush Administration against prosecution). It's no secret that Abu Zubaydah has been in US custody since 2002. He can no longer offer any timely actionable intelligence. The despicable "harsh interrogation" techniques employ by the United States are a matter of public record. I can think of no reason why our government will not divulge exactly how torture prevented even one attack.
I couldn't resist.
Ex-CIA Interrogator John Kiriakou (L) & Comedian Mo Rocca (R).
AF
The Bush bullshit is flying so fast and furiously that sometimes our vision is at least partially obscured. Dig too deeply in search of the truth and you miss the big lie at the surface. This is purely intentional. Still, I'm really pissed at myself for missing the latest Bush Inc. whopper.
Former Congressman Tim Roemer (D), House Intelligence Committee & 911 Commission alumnus, was on Olbermann last night. He eviscerates the Bush Administration/CIA excuse for destroying the torture videos :
Right now the CIA is saying that they destroyed these tapes because it would've provided some information about Agents that should be classified and sources and methods if that is true then they should destroy almost everything at Langley. That is really not something that we buy.More later.
Last week the finale to my epic Saudi Law: Can't Punish Female Victims Too Harshly... series noted that Paramount Pictures whisked The Kite Runner's young actors out of Afghanistan.
The three boys and their families feared reprisals in response to the film's "culturally inflammatory" homosexual rape scene. A crew of 2o including a former CIA counterterrorism expert worked for months to pull this off. We now know the CIA agent's name.
The brilliant Majikthise has exclusive deets:
A retired CIA agent who lead the team that waterboarded terror suspect Abu Zubaydah went on to work as a security consultant for the film adaptation of The Kite Runner (2007).Lobbyists for Viacom helped the producers of the film retain retired CIA agent and "countererrorism expert", John Kiriakou, according an Oct 4 article in the International Herald Tribune--before Kirkakou went public about his career as a torturer.
Paramount Pictures is wholly owned by Viacom.
More on Kirkakou later.
From town politics to the national stage, I've watched the Democrats' overabundance of caution turn to cowardice. People too worried about what other people will think to do what's right. People too afraid to lose their stature to speak out. Fuck putting your town, state or country first lest it put an end to the gravy train. The Democratic Party as a whole is in need of an emergency testicular implant.
I won't rehash theories on what and when Sen. Rockefeller and Rep. Harman knew about the destroyed torture tapes. Nor will I prattle on about House Speaker Pelosi's apparent knowledge of waterboarding dating to 2002. Smarter people than I have said plenty already.
Obviously the CIA torture videos were tossed to protect the torturers and others from prosecution. In the current discussion, two far greater motivations are being overlooked:
After the Saudi government punished the victim of a brutal rape, the Western world (sans the U.S.) expressed outrage. Rightly so. Muslims and non-Muslims alike should be outraged when a mindset inappropriate in the 14th Century rears it's ugly head in the 21st Century. But this is one of those situations in which real change can come only from within. Where exactly are those moderate Muslims we hear so much about? I know they are out there. Given recent slew of injustices committed by governments in the name of Islam, now would be a good time to speak up. Not a peep has been heard.
Feminist and former member of the Dutch Parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali published an editorial in yesterday's NYT. She's also a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute -- that always raises screaming giant crismson flags with me. Neocon bona fides aside, Ali places a powerful call to Islam's Silent Moderates:
It is often said that Islam has been “hijacked” by a small extremist group of radical fundamentalists. The vast majority of Muslims are said to be moderates. But where are the moderates? Where are the Muslim voices raised over the terrible injustice of incidents like these? How many Muslims are willing to stand up and say, in the case of the girl from Qatif, that this manner of justice is appalling, brutal and bigoted — and that no matter who said it was the right thing to do, and how long ago it was said, this should no longer be done?Exactly right. Sharia i.e. Islamic Law desperately needs to be brought out of the dark ages and into the new millennium. (There are powerful forces working to prevent such a thing but that is a topic for another time). She takes to task those Muslim groups "quick to defend any affront to the image of Islam." Yet these same groups stands mute in the face these multiple incidents that have "done more to damage the image of Islamic justice than a dozen cartoons."
I wish there were more Islamic moderates. For example, I would welcome some guidance from that famous Muslim theologian of moderation, Tariq Ramadan. But when there is true suffering, real cruelty in the name of Islam, we hear, first, denial from all these organizations that are so concerned about Islam’s image. We hear that violence is not in the Koran, that Islam means peace, that this is a hijacking by extremists and a smear campaign and so on. But the evidence mounts up.These groups are adept at misdirection and practiced at denial. It's one thing to claim you are a "moderate" Muslim. It's quite another to be a moderate Muslim. Ali's conclusion is cut-and-dried:
When a “moderate” Muslim’s sense of compassion and conscience collides with matters prescribed by Allah, he should choose compassion. Unless that happens much more widely, a moderate Islam will remain wishful thinking.Read the whole thing here. Now.
via Think Progress: King George speaks to King Abdullah about various things. The Saudi rape case? “I don’t remember if that subject came up.” But it doesn't matter if Bush broached the subject because Abdullah “knows our position loud and clear.” Our position? "And our opinions were expressed by Dana Perino from the pulpit — from the podium." Really? Perino's entire comment on the subject:
I think that the situation is very discouraging and outrageous. There is an appeals process and we hope that the verdict changes. It is certainly not consistent with the judicial reforms that the Saudis have said that they would undertake.That is not an unambiguous condemnation of a Saudi government for persecuting a Shiite woman brutally raped by 5 Sunni men. It is not one head of state putting direct pressure on another head of state to force the recognition of basic human rights. Instead our President sent a surrogate up to the "pulpit" to say we hope you do better like you told us you would. Bush further diluted his message by his choice of messenger. You don't enlist a diminutive woman who doesn't even hold a cabinet position to deliver a missive to the King of a patriarchal society.
The first two parts of this series, here and here, document the extent to which the Saudi Sharia courts' strict interpretation of Islamic Law is blatantly punitively sexist and prejudicial. Like other countries under strict Islamic rule, Saudi courts treat women as half-citizens at best. Shiite women in a Sunni court system fare far worse. In this case, the judicial outcome was a particularly egregious parody of justice.
While presenting their case against 5 Sunni Saudi men who viciously gang raped a Shiite woman, Prosecutors were not permitted an opportunity to prove their case in court. Sunni judges refused to allow video of the crime (recorded on one rapist's cell phone) to be entered as evidence. This woman was not allowed to testify against her attackers in court. For good measure these judges charged her with "fornication" and then denied her request to defend herself against that charge. Because Saudi law can't punish female victims of sex crimes too harshly, she was convicted. Her Sunni rapists were charged with and convicted of only the least serious of their multiple offenses: kidnapping.
It's the crime not cited that exposes the hypocrisy and duplicity at the heart of the Saudi legal system (and therefore the entire Saudi government). The court turned a blind eye to, what was by this court’s own strict Sharia interpretation, the rapists' most "serious" crime of all: gay sex. Yep, these 5 married Sunni men weren't satisfied with sadistically brutalizing a Shiite woman. They also repeatedly raped her male Shiite blackmailer.
This is remarkable. Homosexuals are widely persecuted throughout Muslim world. Moderate Muslims who refer to homosexuality as a "mental illness" seem comparatively charitable until they force their sons to seek "medical help." Former Guardian Middle East Editor (2000-2007) Brad Whitaker is author of Unspeakable Love. Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East. His 2006 lecture "Sickness or Sin? Attitudes Towards Homosexuality in the Middle East" tells of a psychiatrist's attempt to "cure" a gay patient through aversion therapy:
The treatment involved showing pictures of men and women, and giving him electric shocks if he looked at the men.This strategy was ultimately unsuccessful.
They were feared to be vulnerable to reprisal because of the film’s depiction of a culturally inflammatory rape scene.In the film as in the book one of the boys is bullied and raped by another boy. Homophobia is so endemic to Muslim culture that these young actors' lives were endangered by something that never happened!
