Daily Dreamtime

Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Seymour Hersh on Where the Iraq War is Headed Next

Tuesday, November 29th, 2005

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/29/1458235

We speak with investigative journalist Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker magazine about his new article, "Up in the Air: Where is the Iraq War Headed Next?" Hersh discusses the ongoing debate in Washington over the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, how President Bush is "impervious to political pressure" in his Iraq policy, the capability of the U.S. Army to sustain two or three more years of combat in Iraq and how a reduction of U.S. troops would be replaced by American airpower - which could lead to even more Iraqi fatalities. [

The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq continues to be a central issue in Washington. Earlier this month, Democratic Congressman John Murtha sparked an intense debate on Capitol Hill after he introduced a bill calling for an immediate withdrawal of US forces. In response, the Republican leadership moved to silence Murtha's criticism by introducing a bill that was worded in a manner designed to split the Democratic Party. The Republican bill proposed "the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately." It was rejected 403 to 3.

Last week, Kurdish and Sunni leaders in Iraq issued a joint communiqué calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S troops. It marked the first time Iraq's political factions collectively called for a withdrawal timetable.

In the latest news, chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita said US forces are likely to be reduced to about 140,000 by the December 15th parliamentary elections and that deeper cuts are possible. The administration has repeatedly said it will consider pulling out troops once enough Iraqi forces have been trained to deal with the insurgency.

DiRita said President Bush is scheduled to give a speech Wednesday where he is expected highlight the progress US forces have made in turning over security to Iraqis.

In a new article in the New Yorker, Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Seymour Hersh writes "a key element of the drawdown plans not mentioned in the President's public statement is that the departing American troops will be replaced by American airpower." He goes on to write: "while the number of American casualties would decrease as ground troops are withdrawn, the over-all level of violence and the number of Iraqi fatalities would increase unless there are stringent controls over who bombs what."

• Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The New Yorker. His latest article is titled "Up in the Air: Where is the Iraq War Headed Next?"

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SEYMOUR HERSH: Well, Amy, I’m actually doing some more work on it. But I will tell you this, the C.I.A. prisons are there. There have been prisons, the C.I.A. has run prisons for many, many years around the world. And I’m sure terrible things happen. But that's actually not where the real game is. They're somewhere else.

AMY GOODMAN: Where?

SEYMOUR HERSH: Other places. I’m -- let me do my reporting, and I promise I’ll publish it, and I promise I’ll come and talk to you about it.

AMY GOODMAN: Okay, well, Seymour Hersh, I want to thank you for being with us. His latest piece is in The New Yorker magazine; it is called "Up in the Air: Where is the Iraq War Headed Next?" Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, thanks for being with us.

www.democracynow.org

Radiohead remix redux: Me and This Army from Panzah Zandahz

Perhaps you missed this news over the holiday weekend? Don't. DJ Panzah Zandahz's "Me and This Army" is a collection of 16 Radiohead tracks remixed with snippets of artists such as MF Doom, Jurassic 5, De La Soul, and more.
Link to info, tracklisting, and torrent

 

http://www.mp3nova.org/2005/11/17/radiohead-me_and_this_army_radiohead_remixes-2005-h8me/

Barlow on death of Grateful Dead music sharing, fans protest

"Archive.org has been forced to take down over 1000 soundboard recordings of the Grateful Dead by Jerry's wife and a few (perhaps one) remaining member of the band."

John Perry Barlow, EFF co-founder and former Grateful Dead lyricist, tells Boing Boing:

You have no idea how sad I am about this. I fought it hammer and tong, but the drummers had inoperable bricks in their head about it.

What's worse is that they now want to remove all Dead music from the Web. They might as easily put a teaspoon of food coloring in a swimming pool and then tell the pool owner to get it back to them.

It's like finding out that your brother is a child molester. And then, worse, having everyone then assume that you're a child molester too. I've been called a hypocrite in three languages already.

How magnificently counter-productive of them. It's as if the goose who laid the golden egg had decided to commit suicide so that he could get more golden eggs.

This is just the beginning of the backlash, I promise you.

This is worse than the RIAA suing their customers.

Here's Barlow's blog. Today, news that Deadheads are boycotting the Dead, according to this Rolling Stone article:

All of the downloads were pulled last week at the request of Grateful Dead Merchandising (GDM), the group that handles official products for the band and is overseen by its surviving members.

Deadheads have answered in protest. In an online petition, fans have pledged to boycott GDM -- including CDs and concert tickets -- until the decision is reversed. (The band itself broke up in the wake of leader Jerry Garcia's 1995 death, but in recent years guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann have toured simply as "the Dead.")

Link.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/8898045/thegratefuldead?pageid=rs.News&pageregion=double1&rnd=1133292108494&has-player=false

The Disappointment

I met a nice professional woman on Sunday night and she whispered to me, how about going to the movies.  I winked and said sure.  Now it was easy because she was attractive, I was lonely and I haven’t been to the movies in a long time so I know I could pick something good.  We went to the movies and got to know each other pretty intimately.  The subject of unprotected sex comes up and she gets horney and you can imagine what’s going through my mind.

We make plans to meet in two nights and I want to show off my amazingly unique apartment filled with photography books and every comfort in the world, a true seductive palace.  Mondays are the toughest days for me at work so waiting an extra day is no big deal even though I am so sensitive I can’t sleep the whole night.  I don’t want to get into details about this woman other than she professionally has a lot of experience in dealing with men and must always get her way so I am very tolerant of her complex and completely unmanageable life.  This is not a woman I can bring home to Mom and one that makes other women extremely insecure.

I have never been one to discuss unprotected sex and believe that as adults in this day in age if your going to share body fluids everyone is clean, honest, trustworthy and willing to disclose any fears about the reality of going all the way.  Romance usually gets diminished with the horrible subject of safety and protection.   I am only sharing my opinion as a male who never really worried about these things much less talked openly about it until after the fact, thinking the worst-case scenario would be a pregnancy.   

We agree that we enjoy each others company tons and are going to share our common interests in art food shopping photography and completely enjoying life with each others company also realising that we both lead entirely different lives.  I am willing to take all the risks at intimacy without any desire to control her.  This freedom turns out to be very difficult and I truly have no expectations preparing myself for rejection or lack of commitment and responsibility on her part.

She is completely seductive, kind and has such a pleasant enticing voice that I am drawn into the trap of thinking that this is going to be a beautiful ongoing relationship.  My plan is to say he why not let me have every Tuesday night.  We aren’t even on our second date and I am calling her honey and she calling me hon and sweet.

Having an intense job in Social Work, I have learned and experience life as many unexpected uncontrollable outcomes that can never be predicted or that almost everything never goes the way you want it to.  That’s what keeps it adventurous.  So I am totally looking forward to my date and we even planned having Italian food to go with our new friendship.
The woman calls and is having an anxiety attack over all her unpaid bills and that she needs to have her life balanced through Medication and adjustment.  I am on the 9-5 schedule at work and she has no consistent works hours.  Her bedtime is 4 am and mine is midnight.  

After a change of plans and a plea to maybe meet in the suburbs, where I never venture even for a hot woman, I am letdown and the date is postponed to a later time and eventually to another day.  Having high hopes I think in my mind this is strike one or maybe even strike two because of her bitchyness even after an apology, I decide that maybe all of this is a blessing and my complete sensitivity has been a fantasy.  How in the world could I imagine having a healthy wholesome relationship with a woman I wouldn’t dare introduce to my Mother.  My Mother also hates Texans and she’s originally from Texas.

Before all of this I dropped some artwork to be framed at the Avant Garde gallery.  Its some work b some exceptional artists, one of whom It took two months of waiting to get my print.  The frame shop told me the works would be framed after Thanksgiving and I always assume the worst so I wasn’t completely disappointed when the framer told me the works wouldn’t be ready until Saturday.  In my mind I am thinking I am going to be with the woman on Saturday because we were going to go to some Galleries and this unfortunate delay is going to cramp my style.  My date cancels the Italian dinner tonight which reinforces yet another disappointment that life never goes my way I have truly learned incredible patience and tolerance that when God wants me to have something its going to happen in God’s time.

Now what really inspired me to write this little story was when I accepted my tragic outcome from the evening and decided to kick back and read some magazines, decompensate from my stressful job and cook a fabulous dinner.  On the way to go to out I decide to fill my tank, which is only half-full.  I patiently wait for a spot at the gas pump in Georgetown and a woman looks like she is having trouble finding her gas tank.  A gentleman attempts to partially help her and then backs out giving me a space to pull in and fill my tank.  

The beautiful blonde woman with her daughter looks completely lost.  I get out and help her.  Its as if this is the very first time she has filled her tank, doesn’t know hoe to pay or even how to remove the gas cap.  I tell her to pay the guy inside and she gives him a twenty, I then ask her if she wants the best gas and she says yes.  She is completely apologetic and says that her husband always does this with a very heavy East European accent.  I remove the gas cap and fill her tank for her.  I almost was going to offer to pay it for her too.  

I ask her if she is from Poland and she says no Russia, have you ever been there.  I say no but I have been in Yugoslavia.  I am tiring to think of the Russian spy that they named a drink after in Georgetown to make a joke and All I can think of is telling her that Goergebotaph was a great man.  She says yes he had the great ideas.  I say yes.  I tell her my dad was a Diplomat.  I see she has normal DC License tags and not Diplomatic.  In my mind I think she has got to be a spy because she is running around loose.  Then I am wondering how can she drive if she doesn’t know how to fill up a gas tank and much less pay for the gas.  What blows my mind is she tried to tip me and give me a dollar for helping her.  She also almost wanted to take me home.  In my mind I am thinking that the Russian father is very lucky to have such a beautiful wife.  What amazed me was also her confidence even though she had no knowledge of how to pay or much less fill her gas tank.  It was so surreal it was almost straight out of a Wim Wenders film.

MOB APPEAL
by Lauren Collins
Issue of 2005-12-05
Posted 2005-11-28

“It was May 14, 2002. I was in my office with two policemen,” Gianrico Carofiglio, an Italian anti-Mafia prosecutor, began. “And then my phone rang. The two guys that were in my room look at me because my face was—how can I say?—strange. They didn’t know what was going on.”

The caller wasn’t a gravel-voiced tipster or a menacing don. It was a book editor, phoning to say that he wanted to publish a manuscript that Carofiglio had submitted. Carofiglio is not only a prominent procuratore della Repubblica; now he is also one of his country’s best-selling authors. He made a name in the nineties, arresting Puglian Mob bosses like Il Cecato (the Blind Man) and Lo Spazzino (the Street-Cleaner); last year, he broke up a syndicate that enslaved prostitutes and sold their newborn babies. By day, Carofiglio conducts searches, interrogates suspects, and leads trials. By night—or, more specifically, during the early-evening hours—he writes crisp, ironical novels that are as much love stories and philosophical treatises as they are legal thrillers. He inhabits the roles of crime fighter and crime writer with an almost Supermannish ease.

“I was a judge in the beginning of my career,” he was saying the other day, at the Italian Cultural Institute, on Park Avenue. “But then I switched to a prosecutor, because I’m kind of a cop in my soul.” Carofiglio, a handsome man, has a five-o’clock shadow, a leftover suntan, and a hairline like Eliot Spitzer’s. He was there to read from his first book, “Involuntary Witness,” which has been translated into thirteen languages and was released last month in the United States. (In Italy, the book will become a television series, making its protagonist, Guido Guerrieri, a Continental Perry Mason.) “If somebody asked”—Carofiglio pronounced the word with two syllables—“me some years ago what is my most absurd dream, I would have said presenting a book, my book, in translation, in New York City.” (Carofiglio is an aficionado of American culture. His “ideal library,” he wrote recently in the magazine Crime Time, would include the movie “Manhattan,” CDs by REM and Bruce Springsteen, and books by J. D. Salinger.)

Carofiglio told the crowd that since childhood he’d been saying that he wanted to be a writer, but by his late thirties he had managed to produce only a couple of technical manuals, on witness psychology and cross-examination techniques. “If you say something like this when you are approaching the year forty,” he said, “you are something more than pathetic.” (Guido, a defense attorney, suffers from a similar sense of midlife ennui.) There were also practical constraints. “At one point, I had an armored Fiat,” Carofiglio said. “I can tell you, that was not fun. There were plots against me. One was with a bazooka. I had four bodyguards; I was supposed to go with them twenty-four hours a day.”

For the reading, Carofiglio had selected a passage in which Guido ponders the side effects of an anti-depressant that has been prescribed for him: “What do you do in the case of a prolonged and painful erection? Do you go to a hospital holding the thing in your hand? Do you put on very comfortable underpants?” His solution is to flush the pills down the toilet, pour a glass of whiskey, and put on a videotape of “Chariots of Fire.”

Later, Carofiglio admitted that his stay in New York had been a respite from the gruelling routine of the courtroom. “I went to an excellent place called Bed Bath & Beyond,” he said. “I went to a club called Hiro, and I had lunch in Pastis.” The next day, he was flying back to Bari. “Monday,” he said. “Monday will be awful. I have to start a special case. It is a file against some oncologists who falsified papers for their clients to allow them to be treated in a special institute. People with little problems in the nose—and people with cancer have to wait.”

And there are other threats to the peace. A few months ago, Carofiglio received an e-mail from a fan of “Involuntary Witness.” It read, “Watch what you do to Guido. Remember ‘Misery’ ?”

I just bought another 5 m bandwidth totalling 35 m per month
my site is too sucessful or my photos are to PHAT

Dear Chris,

Your “addiction” Web site has reached its monthly
bandwidth(data transfer) limit. As you know, your hosting
package includes a monthly bandwidth allotment, and we reserve
the right to stop serving any site whose bandwidth exceeds its
allotment.

http://intervention.org

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