You know, I really need to start listening to Democracy Now or some other public access radio, because I never even heard about a planned march for today! But somehow, "thousands" of other people did! I like to send a "Go Get 'Em" email to organizations who put these things together as I am too far away to attend such a demonstration myself!!

And, all I kept seeing was a headline that said, "Unidentified clergy beaten at the capital"!! I didn't pay it any attention, 'cause I figured if they didn't even know who it was, how important could it be?? But, I didn't know they had identified the person. Why did they beat him up??

Rev. Yearwood was standing in line waiting to get into the Congressional hearing. He was singled out because he's recognized as a "prominent" peace activist. But, I guess the Capitol police saw him as a troublemaker. Rev. Yearwood says his job is to make "government transparent" and to make young people aware of how the government works.

It seems that there's nothing the government likes more than ignorant citizens.

Anyway, there's a website devoted to the march: Sept15.org.

I watched part of the demonstration late last night on C-SPAN. And yes, Rev. Yearwood was there ... on stage, crutches, bruises and all!!

The part I came in on, 2 ex-Vets spoke, then a man who hadn't been invited to speak took the mic and started talking about how he thought the war was necessary! Folks on the stage tried to get him to leave and turned off the sound. The crowd started chanting, "Let him speak! Let him speak!" until they turned the mic back on. Within a couple of sentences, he basically said that the war might be wrong, but with the threat of terrorists out to kill us, the war needed to be fought and we needed to be there.

The crowd then started booing him and booed him off the stage. It was then Rev. Yearwood, took the mic ... started screaming at the crowd that this guy's opinion was what democracy was all about. Getting everybody opinions, even if we agree with them or not.

The crowd wanted to boo him too ... but being Rev. Yearwood, plus all jacked up ... they just fell into a weird kind of silence. At this point, I'm still trying to figure out what to make of him too!

Iraq Death Toll Rivals Rwanda Genocide, Cambodian Killing Fields

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted September 17, 2007.

A new study estimates that 1.2 million Iraqis have met violent deaths since Bush and Cheney chose to invade.



According to a new study, 1.2 million Iraqis have met violent deaths since the 2003 invasion, the highest estimate of war-related fatalities yet. The study was done by the British polling firm ORB, which conducted face-to-face interviews with a sample of over 1,700 Iraqi adults in 15 of Iraq's 18 provinces. Two provinces -- al-Anbar and Karbala -- were too dangerous to canvas, and officials in a third, Irbil, didn't give the researchers a permit to do their work. The study's margin of error was plus-minus 2.4 percent.

Field workers asked residents how many members of their own household had been killed since the invasion. More than one in five respondents said that at least one person in their home had been murdered since March of 2003. One in three Iraqis also said that at least some neighbors "actually living on [their] street" had fled the carnage, with around half of those having left the country.

In Baghdad, almost half of those interviewed reported at least one violent death in their household.

Before the study's release, the highest estimate of Iraqi deaths had been around 650,000 in the landmark Johns Hopkins' study published in the Lancet, a highly respected and peer-reviewed British medical journal. Unlike that study, which measured the difference in deaths from all causes during the first three years of the occupation with the mortality rate that existed prior to the invasion, the ORB poll looked only at deaths due to violence.

The poll's findings are in line with the rolling estimate maintained on the Just Foreign Policy website, based on the Johns Hopkins' data, that stands at just over 1 million Iraqis killed as of this writing.

These numbers suggest that the invasion and occupation of Iraq rivals the great crimes of the last century -- the human toll exceeds the 800,000 to 900,000 believed killed in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and is approaching the number (1.7 million) who died in Cambodia's infamous "Killing Fields" during the Khmer Rouge era of the 1970s.

While the stunning figures should play a major role in the debate over continuing the occupation, they probably won't. That's because there are three distinct versions of events in Iraq -- the bloody criminal nightmare that the "reality-based community" has to grapple with, the picture the commercial media portrays and the war that the occupation's last supporters have conjured up out of thin air. Similarly, American discourse has also developed three different levels of Iraqi casualties. There's the approximately 1 million killed according to the best epidemiological research conducted by one of the world's most prestigious scientific institutions, there's the 75,000-80,000 (based on news reports) the Washington Post and other commercial media allow, and there's the clean and antiseptic blood-free war the administration claims to have fought (recall that they dismissed the Lancet findings out of hand and yet offered no numbers of their own).

Here's the troubling thing, and one reason why opposition to the war isn't even more intense than it is: Americans were asked in an AP poll conducted earlier this year how many Iraqi civilians they thought had been killed as a result of the invasion and occupation, and the median answer they gave was 9,890. That's less than a third of the number of civilian deaths confirmed by U.N. monitors in 2006 alone.

Most of that disconnect is probably a result of American exceptionalism -- the United States is, by definition, the good guy, and good guys don't launch wars of choice that result in over a million people being massacred. Never mind that that's exactly what the data show; acknowledging as much creates intolerable cognitive dissonance for most Americans, so as a nation, we won't.

But there's more to it than that. The dominant narrative of Iraq is that most of the violence against Iraqis is being perpetrated by Iraqis themselves and is not our responsibility. That's wrong morally -- we chose to go into Iraq despite the fact that public health NGOs warned in advance of the likelihood of 500,000 civilian deaths due to "collateral damage." It's also factually incorrect -- as Stony Brook University scholar Michael Schwartz noted a few months ago, the Johns-Hopkins study looked at who was responsible for the violent deaths it measured and found that coalition forces were directly responsible for 56 percent of the deaths in which the perpetrator was known. According to Schwartz's number crunching, based on the Lancet data, coalition troops were responsible for at least 180,000 and as many as 330,000 violent deaths through the middle of last year. There's no compelling reason to think the share attributable to occupation forces has decreased significantly since then.

Like the earlier study in the Lancet -- one that relied on widely accepted methodology for its results -- this new research is already being dismissed out of hand. The strange thing is that common sense alone should be enough to conclude that the United States has killed a huge number of Iraqi civilians. After all, it's become conventional wisdom (based on several studies) that about 90 percent of all casualties in modern warfare are civilians. We know that the military, in addition to deploying 500 missiles and bombs in the first six months of this year alone, has had trouble keeping up with the demand for bullets in the Iraqi theater. According to a 2005 report by Lt. Col. Dean Mengel at the Army War College, the number of rounds being fired off is enormous (PDF):

[One news report] noted that the Army estimated it would need 1.5 billion small arms rounds per year, which was three times the amount produced just three years earlier. In another, it was noted by the Associated Press that soldiers were shooting bullets faster than they could be produced by the manufacturer.

1.5 billion rounds per year … more bullets fired than can be manufactured. Given that the estimated number of active insurgents in Iraq has never exceeded 30,000 -- and is usually given as less than 20,000 -- that leaves a lot of deadly lead flying around. Everyone agrees that the U.S. soldier is the best-trained fighter on earth, so it's somewhat bizarre that war supporters believe their shots rarely hit anybody.

If it weren't for the layers of denial that have been dutifully built up around the American strategic class, these figures might put to rest the notion that U.S. troops are preventing more deaths than they cause.

Recall that the stated reason for the invasion was to reduce the number of countries suspected of having an illicit WMD program from 36 to 35. Amid all the talk of troop deaths and the billions of dollars being thrown away in Iraq, it's important to remember that it is the Iraqis that are paying such a dear price for achieving that modest goal.

With a Congress frozen into inaction, all that remains to be seen is what the final death toll from the Iraq war will be. The sad truth is that we may never know the full scope of the carnage.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/62728/?page=1

You see ... that's exactly what I'm talkin' about, HBro!!

The U.S. admits that it doesn't take a casualty count of Iraqi civilians ... as if that's going to mean that there aren't any. There's news reports every other day about anywhere from 25 to 50 bodies being found dumped on some street, or floating in some river. But the count is never totaled. Just a daily count of how many dead.

And regardless of who is killing who over there ... those deaths are happening because of our invasion and continued occupation of the area. Even Saddam wasn't killing this many people a day. And, that's not even to talk about how many are displaced and have left their homes just so as not to be an added statistic to the death toll.

And the "American people" put the median death toll at 10,000??? That kind of stupidity scares me. And is depressing beyond words.

This is exactly why the Judgement of God is against this nation...the abuse of authority.

Which reminds me...here are some of my notes from the Hon. Louis Farrakhan's message yesterday:

First, he said to us that...

"All Authority is from God, and none of us has any authority except by God's Permission or Appointment." We who have authority will ultimately have to answer for how we exercised our authority.

Abuse of Authority is disrespect of the God of Creation, Who is "THE" Authority.

Abuse of Authority can be active (oppression) or passive (neglect).

To "abuse" a thing is to use or treat it in a manner not intended by its Designer or Creator.

With AUTHORITY comes RESPONSIBILITY (Duty), and we who are IN authority have a Duty by God to exercise Authority according to His Direction.

This applies to all of us, whether we are teachers over students, parents over children, bosses over employees, husbands over families, rulers over nations, or individuals over their own lives.

The rulers of this world are abusers of authority, and we who pattern our ideals after this world are, likewise, abusers of authority.
("Envy not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways." --Bible)

It is the abuse of authority in the world that is bringing about the Judgement of God...beginning in the House of God.

This world operates on the principle that "might makes right", which is abusive by its very nature. God's way says that "Right makes Might".

Abuse of authority is an injustice, and the Human Spirit rebels against injustice. This is why oppressive regimes are always overturned by the people who are oppressed, because the Nature of God in the people rebels against oppression and injustice.

Authority without Responsibility leads to abuse, whether deliberate or incidental.

The enemy (white people) likes for us to be irresponsible, because for us to be responsible would mean the end of their abusive rule.

It is not enough to be simply "united". We must be united in "Righteousness", for it is Righteousness that exalteth a nation.

Every Believer in God has Authority (and the Responsibility) from God to challenge Satan and his world.
"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places." (Abusers of authority)

No politician, no matter how well-intentioned he may be, has the power to save America from the Judgement of God, which is now upon her.

"The end of the world of the abuser is here!"

"Watch the weather...watch what God does."

In the midst of God's Judgement of the wicked, pray that He spares the Righteous.

Mr. Muhammed ...

Are you saying (in short) that we're in the midsts of white people getting theirs?

Actually, EbonyRose, that is what Minister Farrakhan is saying...and I happen to believe him, based on my observation and my study of the Scriptures.

RM

Oh .. Okey dokey! I just wanted to make sure I was understanding you right.

quote:

Original post by Honest brother:
Iraq Death Toll Rivals Rwanda Genocide, Cambodian Killing Fields

Sickening...

quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Muhammed:
"All Authority is from God, and none of us has any authority except by God's Permission or Appointment."

If 'god' is meant as an external anthropomorphic being, and he gave these crackers authority and permission to institute global white supremacy, that 'god' needs his ass kicked.

quote:

Originally posted by kresge:
If 'god' is meant as an external anthropomorphic being, and he gave these crackers authority and permission to institute global white supremacy, that 'god' needs his ass kicked.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: EbonyRose,

I'M AN ELITIST TOO.

quote:

Originally posted by Oshun Auset:
In A Black Theology of Liberation James Cone says, "if God is not for us, if God is not against white racists, then God is a murderer and we had better kill God."

That was funny.

I definitely believe God is on our side. We are definitely His chosen people. Our blessings abound.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: EbonyRose,

Truth is undoubtedly the sort of error that cannot be refuted because it was hardened into an unalterable form in the long baking process of history... Michel Foucault

Hope begets many children illegitimately and prematurely. Allie M. Frazier

Beware the terrible simplifiers... Jacob Burckhardt

Response moved to its own thread...

http://africanamerica.org/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=60260642&f...251033944#2251033944

RM

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mr. Muhammad,

quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Muhammad:
Question for Oshun and kresge:

How do you refer to the Governing Principle of all existence? Do you have a name for IT?

Does this Governing Entity possess Consciousness or Awareness?

Do you regard this Entity as having power over the physical Universe?

RM

This may answer your question(s)... Synopsis

Hence, I phrased my comment in a very specific way...

Hired killers??



Blackwater most often shoots first, congressional report says


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Blackwater USA guards have used deadly force weekly in Iraq and have inflicted "significant casualties and property damage," according to a congressional staff report released Monday that cites internal company and State Department documents.

Blackwater's contractors fired their weapons 195 times - or an average of 1.4 times a week - from the beginning of 2005 through the second week of September, the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee found.

In over 80 percent of the cases, Blackwater reports that its forces fired first, according to the staff report.

The committee will hear from Blackwater's CEO Erik Prince on Tuesday.

Records of the company and State Department show Blackwater's use of force in Iraq has been "frequent and extensive," the report says.

Though Blackwater is authorized to use force only defensively, "the vast majority of Blackwater weapons discharges are pre-emptive, with Blackwater forces firing first at a vehicle or suspicious individual prior to receiving any fire," the report states.

A Blackwater contractor wrote an initial U.S. government report describing contractors' involvement in a September 16 incident in which Iraqi civilians were shot, government and industry sources told CNN.

The Iraqi government claims Blackwater contractors, who were guarding a U.S. diplomatic convoy, killed as many as 20 civilians in western Baghdad's Nasoor Square.

The incident elicited outrage in Iraq and raised questions about the accountability of foreign security personnel in the country who, under an order by the U.S.-led occupation government, are not subject to Iraqi law.

Blackwater said its employees responded properly to an insurgent attack on a convoy, and the State Department "spot report" written by the Blackwater contractor underscores that and doesn't mention civilian casualties.

However, the contractor's account is at odds with Iraqis' version of the incident. A senior Iraqi National Police official participating in the Iraqi governmental probe of the shooting said the Blackwater gunfire was unprovoked and random, killing and wounding several civilians.

Blackwater contractor Darren Hanner drafted the two-page spot report on the letterhead of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security for the embassy's Tactical Operations Center, said a source involved in diplomatic security at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Hanner, listed on the report as the center's watch officer, was working for Blackwater at the time the report was written -- just after the shooting occurred, said a highly placed industry source. He was to rotate out of Iraq last week, the source said.

The center tracks and monitors all incidents and movements involving diplomatic security missions and has outsourced positions to Blackwater and another private firm, the embassy source said.

The State Department is conducting an investigation, and deputy spokesman Tom Casey called the spot report "a first-blush account of those on the scene." He said the "report has no standing whatsoever."

"It was not intended to be used as an analysis, investigation, review or any detailed assessment of the situation. To assert that is untrue," Casey said.

A State Department agent took sworn statements from the participants in the shooting after receiving the spot report, the embassy source said.

A joint U.S.-Iraqi commission is expected to examine security and safety issues and will receive results of the State Department investigation and a separate Iraqi investigation, the U.S. military said.

The senior Iraqi police officer said Blackwater team members were questioned by Iraqi police immediately after the incident. The contractors first said they opened fire in response to a mortar attack, the officer said. However, the contractors then changed their story at least twice during the 90 minutes they were held, the officer said.

Iraqi police released a video of the aftermath of the shooting which shows a car that had damage consistent with a rocket-propelled grenade.

The video shows what appears to be the spent casing of a rifle-fired grenade, and the embassy source said the Blackwater guards were armed with a rifle-fired M-203 grenade.

The embassy source said a New York Times story reporting investigators were told that at least one guard drew a weapon on a fellow guard who did not stop shooting after colleagues called for a cease-fire was "pretty much true."

Blackwater previously denied reports that one Blackwater employee drew a gun on another.

The embassy source, meanwhile, said Blackwater is suffering a staffing shortage as it tries to meet its mission of guarding U.S. diplomats moving around Baghdad and other sections of Iraq.

"To my knowledge that's inaccurate," Tyrrell said. "I would urge caution in trusting the source."

As State Department investigators arrived in Baghdad from Washington to investigate the shooting, many of the guards involved had ended their contracts with Blackwater and were leaving Iraq, the embassy source said, speaking anonymously because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

The State Department official said as of Friday all guards that were involved in the incident were still in Iraq, except for one who had to be evacuated for medical reasons.

"It would be hard to do an investigation without the principal players there," the official said, referring to the State Department inquiries into the issue.

"We cannot take anybody out of the country during an investigation without U.S. government approval," Tyrrell said. "It is inaccurate that the 19 men being investigated have left Iraq."

Several of the guards involved in the shooting have requested disability severance and others have not renewed their expiring contracts, the State Department source said. None of those involved are being sent on security missions, he said.

The Iraqi government said it will file criminal charges against the Blackwater employees, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry.

It's not clear how Iraqi courts would attempt to bring the contractors to trial.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh in Baghdad, Zain Verjee in Washington and Suzanne Simons in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Yup, ER...

"Security Contractors" = "Hired Killers", not under the Geneva Convention, not subject to the UCMJ, ...just hired guns.

They can get away with what the military can't...on paper that is.

RM

Yeah ... and the sad thing is, there's just about as many of them over there as there is military personnel.

Why nobody has been able to put together how rich Bush and his cronies and their corporations are getting off of this "war" and launch some kind of criminal-content investigation into it, is truly amazing to me! You can't do that much dirt and keep your hands clean.

We're only now hearing about this group and their brutality .. but, there's no telling how many civilians they have killed and/or brutalized while operating under the radar.

I listened to a Democracy Now podcast that described Blackwater as mercenaries. Jeremy Scahill has written a book titled "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army."

Iraqi authorities seek Blackwater ouster

By STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press Writers


Iraqi authorities want the U.S. government to sever all contracts in Iraq with Blackwater USA within six months. They also want the firm to pay $8 million in compensation to families of each of the 17 people killed when its guards sprayed a traffic circle with heavy machine gun fire last month.

The demands — part of an Iraqi government report examined by The As