Saturday on the Weekend Interview Show, I’ll be talking with Daniel Ellsberg, the man who stole the 7,000 page secret history of the Viewtnam War know as the Pentagon Papers, which he leaked to the U.S. Senate and the newspapers back in 1971.
In the second hour, the bad news, and your calls.
4-6 pm Eastern time
Update: Show’s over
Archives here
The US military is admitting to “casualties” after a car bomb attack on a Marine convoy in the “safest city in Iraq.” Xinhua is claiming to have spoken to an eyewitness:
An overnight roadside bomb blast struck a US military patrol in Iraq’s western city of Fallujah, destroying a US armored vehicle and causing several casualties, witnesses said on Friday.
“The blast took place on late Thursday near the main US military checkpoint at the eastern entrance of the city, destroying a US Humvee, killing and wounding the US soldiers aboard,” Ahmed Salih, a Fallujah resident told Xinhua.
A US military statement on Friday confirmed the attack, without giving precise casualties and further details.
Separately, a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden vehicle near the house of a tribal leader in the southern neighborhood of Fallujah on Thursday night, witnesses said.
The suicide bomber was killed in the blast which caused no other casualties, they said, adding that Sheikh Khamis Hasnawi al-Eifan, chieftain of Albu Issa tribe, escaped the assassination attempt unharmed.
Eifan and his family member refused to talk about the reasons behind the attack.
Meanwhile, General John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, practically calls US VP Dick “Last Throes” Cheney a liar. And that was before the Marines in Fallujah were bombed.
UPDATE: Wonkette on Cheney’s “Clintonesque” response to Abizaid’s statement.
And, the US military’s statement on the Fallujah bombing:
Jun 24, 2005 — BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two U.S. Marines were killed, 13 were wounded, and four other troops were listed as missing following a powerful suicide car bomb attack on a U.S. convoy, the U.S. military said on Friday.
“Three Marines and a sailor believed to be in the vehicle are currently listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown pending a positive identification,” the Marines said in a statement that also listed the two dead and 13 wounded.
Sailors attached to Marine units are normally medics.
Missing?
I think that I will use the following from Don Boudreaux the next time I receive a “you don’t support the troops” emails:
Libertarians understand in their guts that flags, anthems, marble domes and columns, fancy titles, embassies, and majoritarian-voting procedures do not transform human beings and human institutions into something higher than human beings and human institutions.
There’s nothing special about the policemen who protect my house from burglars, my son from kidnappers, and my wife from rapists. There’s nothing special about the troops who protect us from foreign armies and terrorists. These activities are important and valuable when done properly. But there’s nothing special about them. Nothing about these activities gives the people who carry them out any exceptional claims upon our affections or wallets.
If the policeman or soldier agrees to render unto me a certain degree of protection in exchange for $100 of my money, neither of us owes anything more to the other as long as I pay him $100 and he performs his contractual duty accordingly. I owe him no special allegiance just because he specializes in using force to counteract force. Nor does he gain superhuman knowledge or wisdom just because he is a force-specialist.
Personal reasons have precluded me from doing a Balkan Express this week, but the column will return on its regular schedule next Thursday, June 30.
According to Al-Jazeera, Ayman-shouldn’t he have been caught by now?-al-Zawahiri has a new tape out, and he sounds just like the conservatives on my local talk-radio station:
1. Shariah Is The Only Source Of Law
“This Ummah will not accept any forms of laws or governments other than the Shariah which was sent down from the Lord of the Worlds. This Ummah has suffered a great deal from man-made laws that were forced on them by the crusaders and their allies from our own.”
2. Liberation of Islamic Lands
“Our land is occupied by the enemies of Allah, from East to West. Our land is being used as a base from which enemy forces take off to kill thousands upon thousands of Muslims across the globe.”
3. Total Freedom Of Islamic Ummah To Run Its Own Affairs
• The judicial system (based on Islamic Shariah) must have autonomy and must be respected and not tampered with. The verdicts of the Islamic judges verdicts must be final and must be enforced with full vigor.
• Islamic Ummah must have the freedom to practice enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong.
Ever considered running for the Senate?
Numerous reports have surfaced on the web claiming that the US government is covering up thousands of US deaths from the war in Iraq:
There is excellent reason to believe that the Department of Defense is deliberately not reporting a significant number of the dead in Iraq. We have received copies of manifests from the MATS that show far more bodies shipped into Dover AFP than are reported officially. The educated rumor is that the actual death toll is in excess of 7,000. [emphasis mine]
How can anyone think the above credible? Why not post these “copies of manifests” on the web? Go to your local Kinko’s, scan them, convert to pdf and find an anonymous ftp server.
As stated, the reports focus on a supposed discrepancy: approximately 25,000 US troops have been flown to Germany for treatment of battle wounds, while the public rarely hears of any subsequent deaths. In fact, there have been many reported deaths from wounds outside the combat zone. In the hopes of dispelling this myth, here is my best attempt at a full listing:
Augusta, GA 2
Died of wounds days later 2 3
Bethesda, Md 2 3 4
Germany, Bethesda
Texas 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
UK
Germany 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
US
Walter Reed 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
There is little if any evidence that the US is covering up some 5600+ deaths of US troops and it is likely that there is nothing to cover-up. The Antiwar.com staff spends many hours a week searching the web for death confirmations, cross-checking with the site ICasualites.org and have yet to find any discrepancy in the military’s numbers. Here are some things to consider before believing the rumor.
Firstly, why trust the government and military — so inefficient at lying about other aspects of the war in Iraq — to be so good at hiding thousands of deaths from the public and possibly the families of those killed? Let’s suppose that there are 7000 unreported deaths. Also, let’s suppose that all the families of these troops know of their lost loved ones (reasonable). Is it really feasible that none of these tens of thousands of friends and relatives haven’t contacted their local media, had a funeral or sent in an obituary? I find it quite doubtful.
In the first weeks of the war, we contacted both the DoD and Centcom to inquire about the statistics they reported and how the press releases were handled. I was told on numerous occasions that the press releases – found here, here and here — are mandatory. Any enlisted soldier who dies must be reported to the press. Though I rarely trust the government to follow the very laws it writes, I do trust that someone in the press or the non-profit sector would have noticed a violation.
To keep yourself informed about the deaths in Iraq, one can visit the DoD site (also see this pdf), check Centcom’s releases, read the well-databased Iraq Coalition Casualties, see our page or subscribe to the email releases.
We at Antiwar.com always doubt what the government says. However, if we are going to claim that it is lying, we will try our best to back up such claims with evidence. It is not healthy for the antiwar movement to spread disinformation and rumors. If the above claims are true, Antiwar.com will investigate any hard evidence sent our way and publish it. Until then, we must assume that the count is accurate, though still too high.
