Politics

Current Fate of Women in Iraq

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From Iraqi blogger Riverbend:
“Females can no longer leave their homes alone. Each time I go out, E. and either a father, uncle or cousin has to accompany me. It feels like we�ve gone back 50 years ever since the beginning of the occupation …
“We are seeing an increase of fundamentalism in Iraq which is terrifying.”
From Yanar Mohammed, director of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq:
More than 400 Iraqi women have been kidnapped and raped amid the lawlessness gripping the country since the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the Organisation of Women�s Freedom in Iraq said Sunday.
�This violence is still a daily occurrence, especially on the streets of Baghdad, without attracting the least attention of the (US) soldiers.�
From Hanna Megally of Human Rights Watch:
“Women and girls today in Baghdad are scared, and many are not going to schools or jobs or looking for work. If Iraqi women are to participate in postwar society, their physical security needs to be an urgent priority.”
From Jerry Bremer, Presidential Envoy to Iraq:
“Life in Iraq will be more open, with each Iraqi free to choose his or her own path. This is the real meaning of the coalition�s military victory: A new Iraq means new freedom.”

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We did say “major.” I swear we did.

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In his May 1 speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln, Bush declared: “Combat operations in Iraq have ended.” The white house posted a transcript of the speech stating this with the headline “President Bush Announces Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended.”

Now, however, the White House is backing off that statement, saying that they meant “major” combat operations are ended, but there is still combat going on in Iraq, and they’re editing the website to insert the word “major” before the word combat throughout the site. Unfortunately there are records of the original wording on the website. Revisionist historians, indeed. Someone explain Caching to our poor confused president.

Continue ReadingWe did say “major.” I swear we did.

Bush’s September 11 “Clean Air” Lie

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From CBS WASHINGTON (AP):

An investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general has found that White House officials instructed the agency to be less alarming and more reassuring to the public in the first few days after the Sept. 11 attacks, The New York Times reports in its Saturday editions.

The investigation specifically cites official statements about air quality after the collapse of the World Trade Center.

The agency “did not have sufficient data and analyses” to make a “blanket statement” when it announced seven days after the attack that the air around ground zero was safe to breathe, the Times quotes the report as saying.

“Competing considerations, such as national security concerns and the desire to reopen Wall Street, also played a role in E.P.A.’s air quality statements,” the report, which has not yet been made public, said.

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Speaking of Interesting Books…

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An excerpt from Joe Conason’s new book, Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth.

If your workplace is safe; if your children go to school rather than being forced into labor; if you are paid a living wage, including overtime; if you enjoy a 40-hour week and you are allowed to join a union to protect your rights — you can thank liberals. If your food is not poisoned and your water is drinkable — you can thank liberals. If your parents are eligible for Medicare and Social Security, so they can grow old in dignity without bankrupting your family — you can thank liberals. If our rivers are getting cleaner and our air isn’t black with pollution; if our wilderness is protected and our countryside is still green — you can thank liberals. If people of all races can share the same public facilities; if everyone has the right to vote; if couples fall in love and marry regardless of race; if we have finally begun to transcend a segregated society — you can thank liberals. Progressive innovations like those and so many others were achieved by long, difficult struggles against entrenched power. What defined conservatism, and conservatives, was their opposition to every one of those advances. The country we know and love today was built by those victories for liberalism — with the support of the American people.

Continue ReadingSpeaking of Interesting Books…