Tonight on 60 Minutes - Operation Iraqi Freedom (not so free after all)

[Wonk]

THE LOOK-- Abercrombie & Fitch is accused of hiring only attractive, mostly white salespeople to sell its trendy clothes. Is it illegal discrimination or perfectly legal marketing? Morley Safer reports.

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM - Some Iraqis say they are being denied the same basic freedoms the U.S. said it fought the war to give them. Steve Kroft reports.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08/60minutes/main13502.shtml

[Oilwellian]

1. Thanks for the heads up

:hi:

[Guaranteed]

2. I'm there.

Damn the hypocrites to hell!

[nomaco-10]

3. Hey Wonk, did you get....

"5 days in Iraq" with Christianne Amanpour that was just on CNN, it was great, one of the best behind the scenes look at Iraq I've seen in months. Real honest portrayal of what is really going on.

[NewJeffCT]

10. can we get a summary?

Thanks - I'd like to get a summary - I'm just back from vacation and am 21 hours late due to the weather, so I'm not exactly up to speed.

[Eric J in MN]

15. a summary

In the city of Karbala, Iraq, the US put a senior Baathist in charge of the police.

The piece implies US soldiers arrest/raid the homes of people who critize the Baathist police-chief.

Also, the US military has held an Iraqui civilian who used to be a city-councilman for over 2 months without charges, and they aren't letting his family or an attorney see him.

After the US military finally admitted the latter, they told the 60 Minutes crew to turn off their cameras.

[Wonk]

17. transcript here

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/04/60minutes/main586841.shtml

[Eric J in MN]

4. Regarding the Abercrombie and Fitch issue

Regarding the Abercrombie and Fitch issue, the last I saw, the company denied any sort of discrimination.

I doubt the company is going to argue that they discriminate and yet it's "legal marketing" as the CBS promo put it.

[proud patriot]

5. Cool , I'll watch when it airs out here

:D

[Wonk]

6. Ok, the football game is finally over (kick)

[Wonk]

7. On now. nt

[Archae]

8. On now.

Showing how hypocritical the US is being.

[Guaranteed]

9. Unbelievable.

These people in Karbala set up their own city council, which was then forcefully dismantled by the Americans, and then replaced with a BAATHIST, who is now the mayor of the city (I THINK the mayor, on edit).

THIS IS LIBERATION???

Yet ANOTHER talking point for Dean.

We are going to destroy Bush in this election.

[conservdem]

12. Worse, he's the police chief.

This segmit on 60 minutes has me irate. I hope its not the end of the story.

I have been supporting our efforts over there, but this is an outrage that needs to be addressed. I hope its an aberration, but I now fear that there are problems like this over there.

[Guaranteed]

14. I wrote a letter to the White House

expressing my incredulity (is that a word?).

I'm fucking indignant.

[Wonk]

11. Well, that was interesting until it GOT CUT OFF MID-WORD

when they changed the feed to "Cold Case" :grr:

What a convenient way to censor 60 Minutes. Start it late because of football then cut it off early for other 'important' programming. :grr:

Did anyone else have this happen tonight?

[conservdem]

13. No, I saw the hole thing.

[Wonk]

16. Ok, I found the transcript. I guess I saw about 95% before they cut it.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/04/60minutes/main586841.shtml

I'm not quite as steamed now about it cutting out early now that I've read what I missed, since I didn't miss all that much.

[Eric J in MN]

18. I saw the whole thing, too (nt)

nt

[DeepModem Mom]

19. kicking

[bpilgrim]

20. U.S. recruiting the Mukhabarat - saddam's feared secret police

Dec. 5, 2003
Iraqis plan to revive Mukhabarat
By MATTHEW GUTMAN

BAGHDAD – Several of the most powerful parties in the Iraqi Governing Council plan to resurrect the Mukhabarat intelligence service, Saddam Hussein's most brutal instrument of state terrorism, in a push to rout the Ba'athist-led terrorist network, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Saddam's Mukhabarat is largely held responsible for the disappearance and execution of about 780,000 Iraqis.

more...
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1070512329363

...

US occupation force in Iraq recruiting former Iraqi secret police
By Alex Lefebvre
26 August 2003

Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the author

Faced with extensive terrorist and sabotage campaigns as well as growing popular anger over US military occupation and catastrophic social conditions, US officials in Iraq are reconstituting elements of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s secret police, the Mukhabarat, and integrating them into the US occupation authority.

On August 24, the Washington Post published an article by Anthony Shadid and Daniel Williams quoting extensively from interviews with unnamed Iraqi and US officials concerning US recruitment amongst Mukhabarat operatives. It wrote: “Officials are reluctant to disclose how many former agents have been recruited since the effort began. But Iraqi officials say they number anywhere from dozens to a few hundred, and US officials acknowledge that the recruitment is extensive.”

The Post added that the Mukhabarat “is not the only target for the US effort,” quoting another unnamed official as saying, “We’re reaching out very widely.”

...

During the 1980s and 1990s, it carried out a number massacres and assassinations of Iraqis opposed to the Hussein regime, both in Iraq and abroad. It coordinated the suppression of anti-Hussein uprisings in the Shiite south and Kurdish north of Iraq in the immediate aftermath of the 1990-1991 Gulf war. It received Washington’s tacit support for these massacres, reflected in the decision by US forces to temporarily suspend enforcement of the no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq. According to the think-tank Global Security, “As a direct result of the Gulf War, the external department was reduced to less than half of its pre-1990 size, while the internal department was enlarged to deal with increasing anti-regime activities in Iraq.”

US officials interviewed by the Post recognised that the Mukhabarat was “loathed by most Iraqis and renowned across the Arab world for its casual use of torture, fear, intimidation, rape, and torture.”

more...
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/aug2003/iraq-a26.shtml

peace