No name yet. Hope the poor guy knows the U.S., unlike Italy, won’t pay a ransom.
WaPo: “An American civilian working for a contractor on a foreign aid project in Iraq reportedly has been kidnapped, officials at the U.S. Embassy here said Monday.”
From the AP: “The spokesman said on condition of anonymity that the contractor was working on a reconstruction project. The contractor’s family had been notified of the abduction, he said. The contractor’s name, hometown and employer were not released.”
But that’s not the biggest news out of Iraq . . .
(Cross-posted at DailyKos.)
(Note: An official at the Pakistani embassy was also kidnapped this past weekend.)
Here’s the first piece of big news about Iraq that got a bit watered down in the reporting by U.S. media, duly noted by Howie Martin in Seattle:
Democracy Now! reports today:
In Iraq, tens of thousands of Shiite Iraqis demonstrated in Baghdad Saturday to call for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The protesters – organized by Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr – gathered in the same square where U.S. forces pulled down a statue of Saddam Hussein two years ago. To mark the anniversary, the Shiites burned effigies of Saddam as well as President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The crowd chanted “Yes, yes to Islam, No, no to America!” The protesters issued three demands: the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, the release of Iraqis from US-run prisons and for the speedy trial of Saddam Hussein. The Los Angeles Times reported that the crowd was as large as 300,000 protesters. Middle East analyst Juan Cole said even if the crowd was half that size it would mark the largest popular demonstration in Iraq since 1958.
And here are the other big stories: On Monday, 200 members of the U.S. military and 500 members of Iraqi forces rounded up 65 “suspected insurgents” in a huge raid in areas of Baghdad.
No doubt they’ll all be charged and found guilty. Not.
About two-thirds are locked up as “security detainees” without any formal charges in US-run facilities, Lieutenant Colonel Guy Rudisill, the US military spokesman for Iraqi detention operations, told AFP.
Can you believe the US has no problem with saying they’re locked up without any formal charges? Oh, for the days of habeas corpus. Quaint days, those were.
And the conditions of the jails! And the oversight by international oganizations!
“None of the Iraqi detention centres meet international standards for cleanliness, food and the treatment of prisoners. Neither are the buildings up to standard. We have asked for international help.”
[. . . . . ]
“In certain places, the situation is deplorable. In others, it is bad, and in others, it is better.” [Amin said]
The ICRC [Red Cross] is unable to visit Iraqi-run facilities due to severe security restrictions on the movements of its staff.
A partial breakdown of the 17,000 number, of which 131 are said to be women:
Of those, 6,054 are in Camp Bucca in southern Iraq – scene of a riot this month in which about 16 people were injured – and another 3,493 are held in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad, where US troops abused and humiliated naked Iraqi prisoners, provoking international outrage.
About 114 high-level detainees, including ousted dictator Saddam Hussein and several former top aides, are held at Camp Cropper at Baghdad international airport and another 1,047 are locked up at other US military jails.
British troops are detaining 27 individuals, Mr Amin added.
“It might not be the most desirable number, but it’s a manageable number for us,” said Lieutenant Adam Rondeau. “We’re always checking the detention facilities… to make the conditions better.”
No doubt, Lt. Rondeau. No doubt.
Oh. Almost forgot to mention it. Forty Iraqis died from violence this past weekend.
Sen. Robert Byrd is whining about some emergency appropriation to build the largest embassy in the world in Baghdad and some money for Guantanamo Bay. He’s on CSPAN2.
Spending that’s “shoved down our throats,” he says. My goodness.
You’re right. Remember he’s a politician and is making noise about the issue that might make an impact with those people who bought into the whole mess in the first place.
Every morning before I head over here to check out Booman I check the ‘iraqdailywar’news site. Not to depress myself but to remind myself(not that I need much reminding) of the very real cost of lives that are being taken daily for the misbegotten war. And to keep up my determination that we have to come together in 2006 elections and beyond to get rid of the republicans. Their policies on the international front have not made us stronger and we are no longer a world leader-except maybe as to have other countries frightened of what we might do next.
It sometimes seems useless to keep asking myself how the administration can be so incredibly stupid about the prison camps(including Gitmo) where basic human rights are being ignored. How all these thousands/thousands who might once have been pro-american or at least not anti-american will come out of those prisons with every intention I’m sure to get rid of us and not in a diplomatic way.
If you wanted to have a plan for making more enemies out of potential friends well this is the blueprint for it.
Denying the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations access to these prisons is just one more way of making sure the international community will continue to be against us.
Hard to write anything on the whole prison ‘detentions’ because there’s so little we can do here except to keep pressure on our Senators and Representatives to have them start speaking out as one for a withdrawal date. I guess that’s a start anyway.
Hopefully the contractor kidnapped today will end up safe as wish I wish everyone over there and living in Iraq could be safe today and every day.
Remember not so long ago when the Administration told us that we were increasing the number of U.S. forces in Iraq by approximately 30,000 to deal with the security situation in the run-up to the elections? Well, those elections took place 2 1/2 months ago. Today’s New York Times reports that the Pentagon now thinks that those troop reductions could take place by 2006.
Gee, I’m sure that’s all very reassuring to the families and friends of those who are (or will be) serving in Iraq. Even after this reduction, military officials estimate that we’ll continue to have some 105,000 U.S. forces in place.
And today, we have the report from new Iraqi president Jalal Talabani that a significant number of troops may stay in place even longer. On CNN’s “Late Edition”, Talabani
Any U.S. troop reductions or withdrawals, Talabani added, would also depend “on the common desire of (the) Iraqi people and American people.”
(Source: American Forces Information Service)
2007. That sure isn’t the impression that Bush was giving to the American people last fall during his campaign. Assuming that there are still significant numbers serving in Iraq early next fall, it will be awfully interesting to see whether the lag in getting the troops home becomes a major issue for the election in some states and districts.
The way I see it we have very few options. First off we need to make sure we have a solid dictatorship in place before leaving. The country needs to be somewhat stable, and it would do no good if the Kurds tried to run off and spoil it for us. Solid as in brutal and well armed. We’re looking at troop reductions since we would like to put them into one of the neighboring countries for a while. My guess would be Syria, but I suppose Iran is also a possibility. Keeping a base in Iraq and wherever else we can gain a foothold would be ideal, of course. I just don’t see a way we can leave.
Could, if, maybe, we’ll see, yeah right. Sounds like one of those ‘disinformation’ stories where only the headlines might stick in people’s minds. Who then think well, yeah the government is going to reduce troops as if the story is absolutely true. And once again sounds like Vietnam disinformation style news.
It’s the old smoke/mirrors story.
We’re going to build the largest embassy in the world in Iraq, we’re building 14 military bases and who knows what else we’re doing so if anyone believes in the troop reduction fairy tale they’re probably watching Faux news.
Unless Rumsfield makes a big show of bringing some troops home while hiring same amount of mercenaries at a thousand times per person what a soldier costs the taxpayers.
An Australian friend asked the other day, of Americans in a chatroom, if we had any idea what was going on in Iraq. Said as far as their news (TV, papers, etc) was concerned, Iraq didn’t even exist (even though they.. the Aussies, have 500 more troops headed there).
Anyway, I was wondering… I don’t watch TV, but are the US stations still reporting on daily events in Iraq? In between celebrity deaths and such, of course.
Very strange for us to have more Non US news than overseas media.
I don’t watch the news much either but like to have the Headline news on during the day(with the sound off) just to see if what all I’m reading every day shows up in the ‘news’ shows. So from what I see is that no they are not doing much reporting on Iraq. Or they will mention maybe one single incident over there as if that is the Only incident for the day or even in days. Instead of the dozens of people and troops being wounded and killed daily. Rather like never mentioning the almost daily attacks on the oil pipelines over there.
Similar to the way the protest over the weekend was covered. I believe there was some 300,000 Iraqi’s protesting-huge number and the news stations mentioned the protest as several thousand ..big deal huh.
Thanks chocolate. Between this and the reports (yet again) of possible troop drawdowns, sounds like our government/corporate media is fixin’ to do some scrubbing.
Pay no attention to that war behind the curtain..
This excellent documentary Mission Accomplished which was shown in November 2004 and again last week-end.
While sympathetic to the soldiers on the ground, the documentary highlights the massive mistakes the U.S. have made in Iraq. Apart from invading it in the first place, the decision to disband the army and police and to allow looting has backfired badly, with the Iraqi people blaming them for the terrible conditions they are living in. Entire cities, which had celebrated the fall of Saddam Hussein, are now virulently anti-American and large swathes of the country are out of U.S. control.
Mission Accomplished shows how U.S. counterinsurgency tactics in Iraq have helped turn an underground Sunni resistance into a popular uprising. Shot over three months in Baghdad and in the surrounding towns of Fallujha, Ramadi and Samara, the documentary features extraordinary access to members of the Iraqi resistance. The film also features interviews with U.S. soldiers on patrol in Ramadi and Fallujha, and the 28th Combat Surgical Hospital in Baghdad. Langan also tracks the growing resentment of Iraqis and includes interviews with families and ex-prisoners outside the now notorious Abu Ghraib prison, who make allegations of sexual torture months before the rest of the world took notice.
“I’ve grown to hate the locals,” admits one U.S. soldier candidly. “You can’t trust them so you’ve got to hate them.”
Mission Accomplished is directed and produced by Sean Langan for BBC Four.
There is a scene where Langan interviews a group of US soldiers, friendly, young and handsome. He jokes about their situation under a bridge which reminds him of the homeless people back home. He tells us a car bomb exploded in the area several days later and it makes the viewer wonder if the guys came out of it okay.
There are the grieving mothers and grandmothers shouting at the camera as they wait for news of their families imprisoned in Abu Ghraib. One recently released prisoner details his experience which matches exactly the reports that came out later in the Abu Ghraib scandal.
<sign> And today, we find more evidence that Bush is planning to attack Iran. What hope is there for Iraq now?
I don’t see us pulling any troops out any time soon. They need to be there to protect the oil fields. The main reason we are there. Always has been, always will be. The US doesn’t give a crapola about how many Iraqi’s die, that is why they stopped counting. Greet us with flowers huh? Like chicolate said if they didn’t hate us before, they certainly hate us now. We know there were very few terrorists there befor ewe invaded but now they just keep rolling in there. I feel if we pulled out the insurgency would slow down greatly. What a waste of money but most of all of human lives and dignity. Sickening!