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Dave Zirin on the World Cup You Won't See on TV: Protests, Tear Gas, Displaced Favela Residents
The 2014 World Cup in Brazil is entering its fifth day. The United States will play its first game of the tournament today against Ghana. Meanwhile, protests are continuing on the streets of Brazil. Many Brazilians have expressed fury over Brazil spending an estimated $11 billion to host the cup while the country’s hospitals and schools remain woefully underfunded. In a video taken by the Associated Press on Sunday, a police officer can be seen firing what appears to be a live pistol round at anti-World Cup protesters near Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã soccer stadium. Police have reportedly also used tear gas, rubber bullets and noise bombs to disperse demonstrators. We go to Rio to speak with sportswriter Dave Zirin, who was tear-gassed on Sunday while covering the protests. He is author of the new book, "Brazil’s Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics and the Fight for Democracy."TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The 2014 World Cup in Brazil is entering its fifth day. The United States team will play its first game of the tournament today against Ghana. Meanwhile, protests are continuing on the streets of Brazil. The demonstrators’ concerns range from public transportation fare hikes to inadequate wages, housing, education, security and healthcare, among other things. Strikes and the threat of strikes have emanated from almost every sector of Brazilian society, including airline employees, metro workers, teachers and homeless workers, to police and even the main federal employees union. Many Brazilians have expressed fury over Brazil spending an estimated $11 billion to host the Cup while the country’s hospitals and schools remain woefully underfunded.
AMY GOODMAN: As the World Cup commenced Thursday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was the target of crude chants sung by part of the crowd who attended Brazil’s victory game against Croatia. Rousseff, who is facing re-election in October, said she would not be intimidated by the crowd’s criticism.
PRESIDENT DILMA ROUSSEFF: [translated] Insults will not intimidate me. I will not be cowered. I will not let myself get upset by insults that cannot even be heard by children or families.
AMY GOODMAN: Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil, was once jailed herself as a political prisoner. She went on to say, quote, "In my life, I have faced extremely difficult situations. Situations that pushed me to my physical limits. What I had to endure then was not verbal aggression, but physical aggression," she said.
Hundreds of demonstrations against the World Cup have erupted all over Brazil over the last year. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have accused the local police of using excessive force against demonstrators. In a video taken by the Associated Press Sunday, a police officer can be seen firing what appears to be a live pistol round at anti-World Cup protesters near Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã soccer stadium. Police have reportedly also used tear gas, rubber bullets, noise bombs to disperse demonstrators. Protest organizers said Brazilians will continue fighting for their rights despite the dangers they face.
THIAGO AVILA: [translated] Today we are here for health, education and public services. This is the cup of protests, and we are strong. Here we want to protest every day that there is a game. This is the first one, but we can say that we are not scared to go into the streets. The streets today are the most important place in the city, and going into the streets is the most important democratic exercise at the moment.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we now go to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where we’re joined by Dave Zirin, sports columnist for The Nation magazine, host of Edge of Sports Radio on SiriusXM. Dave is the author of several books on sports, including, most recently, Brazil’s Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy. He is in Rio covering the 2014 World Cup. He’s joining us from outside Maracanã Stadium.
Dave, yesterday, you, yourself, were tear-gassed. Can you describe the scene?
DAVE ZIRIN: Yeah, absolutely. If you look behind me, you see Maracanã Stadium. That is arguably the most famous soccer stadium on the planet. And last night it was hosting its first World Cup game in 64 years. And in protest of everything that FIFA and the World Cup are bringing to Brazil, a demonstration of about 500 people marched down the street to my left on Maracanã Avenue. The goal was to get as close to the exclusion zone around the stadium, a several-block radius that prevents people without tickets from even walking the streets of Brazil.
Now, I ran ahead with my cameraman, Zach Zill, about two blocks ahead to be able to capture what would happen when the protesters met with police. And about a block and a half in front of the protesters, I saw a series of riot police come out of these wagons, and they were dressed in full regalia—gas mask, shields, all the rest of it. And they started beating their shields in rhythmic fashion. About 200 tourists were sitting at an outdoor cafe, and they started to chant for the police, a soccer chant. They started to say, "Oé, oé, oé, policía." And then the police fired tear gas about a block and a half towards the protesters, yet they got their trajectory wrong, and the tear gas landed just about a hundred yards in front of them, and then a headwind blew the tear gas onto the tourists, sending 200 tourists scattering, who were cheering for the police just moments ago, scattering in utter panic. The tear gas blew on me, as well.
And at that point, the police got their trajectory correctly. They fired, by my count, two more canisters of tear gas, concussion grenades, as well, which then served to disperse the 500-person protest and later was the incident that the AP reported of an officer actually firing live ammunition. That I did not see, but frankly, I wasn’t seeing a great deal at that point anyway.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Dave, this whole issue of the protests, especially of the destruction of favelas near some of the major stadiums that were constructed, could you talk about that?
DAVE ZIRIN: Yes, absolutely. Right to my right, literally a five-minute walk from Maracanã Stadium, which, remember, is the Sistine Chapel of international soccer, is a place called Favela do Metrô. Favela do Metrô was the home of 700 families. Right now it is the home of no families. It has been—completely been knocked to the ground. All it is now is a couple of storefronts and lots of rubble, rats, waste. I mean, it’s an absolute calamity. And you see little pieces of what used to be people’s homes—broken dolls, furniture, all the rest of it. And the plan was to knock down the favela and build a parking lot. That parking lot has yet to be built. It’s just piles and piles, mountains of rubble.
And we spoke to some of the people there, workers who were actually charged with clearing it out, so hopefully the parking lot could be ready in time for the 2016 Olympics, which, of course, are going to be held in Rio with Maracanã, the place where the opening ceremony will take place. What was pretty—what was very upsetting about it was in—with my translator, Theresa Williamson from Catalytic Communities, speaking to the workers themselves, is that they all lived in favelas, so they were favela favelados themselves, and they were the people who were hired to actually knock down the favelas and then clear the areas, which just—it’s a shame and a sin. And we asked them how it felt to be favelados knocking down the favelas of others, and they said—they used a word in Brazilian which does not have an English translation, but they said, "It made me feel strange in my heart to have to be in that position."
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Dave, what happened to the 700 families that were removed? Were they relocated or given benefits of any kind?
DAVE ZIRIN: That’s the right question to ask, Juan, because this is the lesson that a lot of people from Brazil are drawing. The first 100 of the 700 families were removed literally within 24 hours after Brazil was awarded the 2016 Olympics. They were removed at gunpoint. Their things were thrown out into the street. They were just gone. The clear-out, what they call the cleansing, had begun. The other 600 families took note of this and started to organize. And they organized protests. They sued the city. They pooled their money to hire attorneys. Attorneys work pro bono, as well. There are a lot of people who actually are standing with the favelados in Brazil, despite their years of oppression and marginalization. And those 600 families were actually given rent vouchers and located just a couple of miles away, which is about as good a deal as you’re going to get from the Brazilian government.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn, Dave—
DAVE ZIRIN: It’s still a tragedy, but the lesson—oh, sorry, sorry. Go ahead, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: And I just wanted to turn to a favela resident who helped coordinate the People’s World Cup. This is Sandra Moja, coordinator of one of the favelas in downtown São Paulo.
SANDRA MOJA: [translated] We have the Copa Buena. In the Copa Buena, no one has to pay, and everyone plays. It’s free. The World Cup, poor people don’t go. No one can pay to go to the World Cup in Brazil, even though we are Brazilians. We don’t have anything more to say about the World Cup. It’s better that we organize the Copa Buena, which is free. We, the people, have to be our own community. If you wait for the government, you won’t get anything.
AMY GOODMAN: That was favela activist Sandra Moja speaking to SubVersiones.org. How would you describe a favela, Dave, for those who aren’t familiar?
DAVE ZIRIN: Yeah, I mean, a favela is a community. The tragedy is that oftentime—and you’ll see this in the most mainstream of U.S. press—is that it’s translated directly as a slum, which couldn’t be further from the truth, if you look at the U.N. definition of "slum," which means destitute, and even joyless is how it’s described. I mean, favelas are places where people create their own makeshift communities. And favelas exist because Brazil has had some of the strongest squatters’ rights laws in the world for a century. I don’t want to sound like I’m glamorizing the very real poverty and real challenges, but these are active, vibrant cultural centers that really make up—that really set a kind of cultural capital for all of Brazil, or what we think of as Brazilian, so much so that a sports bar in Milwaukee even set up a fake favela as a way to bring in World Cup fans to drink and watch the World Cup. That’s its kind of cultural capital. The problem, of course, is that they don’t benefit from creating that cultural capital, which I think will sound very familiar to people in the United States when you think of communities of color that have created the culture that they don’t necessarily get remunerated from.
But that being said, there are also people in Brazil who have lived here for decades and have never set foot inside a favela, look at the favelas with tremendous contempt and disrespect. And the government has attempted to use this as an opportunity to take the land. And that’s what’s so important for people to know. Rio, in particular, is undergoing a real estate speculative boom. The land that the favelas are on are incredibly powerful. And the World Cup and the Olympics provide what is known as a state of exception, to grab the land, remove the favelados and develop it.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But, Dave, I wanted to ask you about that, given the fact that these—both the World Cup and the Olympics were brought to Brazil by Lula, perhaps the most popular president in the history of Latin America and a Workers’ Party leader. And at the same time, Brazil has seen a shrinking of the gap between rich and poor during first the Lula and the Dilma Rousseff regime.
DAVE ZIRIN: Yes.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: So, how do you see this surge of protests occurring at the very time that supposedly income inequality has been reduced to some degree in Brazil?
DAVE ZIRIN: That’s a great question, although I will add that inequality has been reduced everywhere except for Rio, the site of the Olympics. But that’s absolutely the right question. I mean, the way to answer it is that Lula fought for and won both the Olympics and the World Cup when the Brazilian economy was humming along at a 7 percent annual growth rate. I mean, the cover of The Economist was the Christ the Redeemer statue, famously on Rio, actually blasting off like a rocketship. And it was thought that, OK, Rio is now a new world power. It barely felt the 2008 recession. And—Brazil, I’m sorry, is a world power. Brazil is now the fifth-largest economy in the world. And the World Cup and the Olympics would be what announced Brazil as this new world power.
There was only one problem, of course, and that’s that the economy went into slowdown. And when that took place, FIFA and the IOC, frankly, could not care less. Brazil had made its commitments for infrastructure, for security, for new stadiums, and that had to be seen through. And that’s what’s been so galling to the people of Brazil, is that the expectations were raised so high, and yet these events are coming, the money is still going into them, yet the very money for social services that were really paid for by exporting to China and by the discovery of oil—effectively, by neoliberalism—that kind of stuff proved to be very illusory. So people are feeling like they’re falling back right at the moment when the stadiums are being built.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about Sócrates, a very well-known soccer player in Brazil?
DAVE ZIRIN: Yeah, Sócrates, of course, he was the captain of the 1982 Brazilian World Cup team. That team did not actually win the World Cup, but it is arguably the most beloved team in the history of Brazil. Sócrates passed away a couple of years ago, way too young. And we miss his voice terribly because Sócrates was also someone who was a proud radical. He considered himself a socialist. During the dictatorship in Brazil, his team, Corinthians, actually organized themselves as a socialist cell, even though they—as they were a championship winning team and as they played to packed arenas, they were also wearing anti-dictatorship slogans on their headbands and their jerseys. They were voting on team substitution issues, voting on team strategy. And they were so popular, though, that the dictatorship could not touch them.
Now, before Sócrates died, even when Brazil was humming along at that 7 percent growth clip and was on the cover of The Economist, Sócrates was issuing very dark warnings about what the World Cup and the Olympics could bring, particularly because he said it seemed like the World Cup was going to shut out the poor of Brazil, exactly what the favela organizer from São Paulo said in your clip that you played earlier, that the World Cup was going to be for tourists and for the wealthy and that it was actually going to hurt the development of Brazilian soccer because it was going to alienate people from soccer. Sócrates’s words proved to be prophecy, and it is to our collective loss that he is not still with us today to be able to speak about this as the World Cup has returned to Brazil.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Dave, in terms of the people actually attending the games, to what degree, from what you’ve been able to—I’ve seen some stadiums in some of the games that really aren’t very full.
DAVE ZIRIN: Yes.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: To what sense are the ordinary folks of Brazil or of Latin America able to attend these games?
DAVE ZIRIN: Well, definitely, Latin America, of course, has huge disparities in rich and poor, and this is a destination point for Latin America. Inside last night’s game, which was of Argentina against Bosnia, the game that was played at the Maracanã, was filled with tens of thousands of Argentinians in the stands, there to cheer on the great Lionel Messi. And this is part of what you see here, is that you see Brazil being this destination point for what’s called World Cup tourism. It’s incredibly expensive to be able to even just find a place to stay in Rio right now. You need to be able to have thousands of dollars of disposable income. To even get inside the exclusion zone, you need a similar amount of money. And for Brazilians, there’s of course a wealthy strata of Brazilians; they are following around the World Cup, as well, like people might follow around a Grateful Dead concert, to the 12 different cities where there are World Cup games. Yet the problem is, as you said, ordinary Brazilians, very unlike the 1950 World Cup which Brazil hosted and was packed with ordinary, regular Brazilians, working-class Brazilians, those are the folks who are being left behind—very symbolized by the Maracanã, which used to sit 225,000 people back in 1950, was filled with one-tenth of the population of the city of Rio, now only sits 75,000 because of the existence of luxury boxes that ring the top.
AMY GOODMAN: Very quickly, Dave, the elections are—the presidential elections are in October. Dilma Rousseff, very unpopular now around soccer, is still leading in those polls. The significance of that? And the corruption of FIFA?
DAVE ZIRIN: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the significance of Dilma still leading in the polls is because the alternatives to Dilma are people who aren’t connecting with the mood of protests, simply because the people who are most likely to compete with Dilma tend to be to the right of Dilma. And they’re trying to make the issues with the World Cup and FIFA issues about corruption, and they’re not talking about the real estate people who are really underwriting a lot of this, because a lot of those same corporate interests, big media interests, are also supporting those right-wing candidates. And I think that’s why most political observers here see a very damaged Dilma still winning re-election in October.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’ll leave FIFA to another discussion. Dave Zirin, thanks so much for being with us, author of Brazil’s Dance with the Devil. He’s standing outside of the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Thanks so much for joining us.
And a very special congratulations to Steve Martinez, our producer, whose sons Edward and Alex graduated eighth grade, and congratulations to Sofia, as well.
As Obama Considers Drone Strikes in Iraq, Could U.S. Military Action Worsen Sectarian Conflict?
Over the weekend, militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) seized the northern town of Tal Afar after a fierce fight. Many fear Iraq could disintegrate as ISIS takes more cities. Shiite militias are now fighting alongside the Iraqi army in an effort to retake cities from the control of Sunni militants. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged today the United States is considering launching drone strikes inside Iraq to help shore up the Iraqi government. He also said he is open to talks with Iran on how Washington and Tehran could work together to help the Iraqi state. The United States appears to be moving closer to launching airstrikes. The USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier has recently arrived in the Persian Gulf. The carrier is accompanied by the USS Philippine Sea guided-missile cruiser and the USS Truxtun guided-missile destroyer, both of which carry Tomahawk missiles that can reach Iraq. The United States has also begun evacuating some employees from its massive embassy in Baghdad. Meanwhile in Britain, former Prime Minister Tony Blair is facing widespread criticism after he suggested the current crisis is not linked to the 2003 U.S. and British invasion of Iraq. Blair said, "We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that 'we' have caused this. We haven’t." To talk more about the crisis in Iraq, we are joined by Iraqi-American political analyst Raed Jarrar.TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The Obama administration is reportedly considering reaching out to Iran to find ways they could work together to help shore up the Iraqi regime as Sunni militants continue their offensive. U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal that the Obama administration may use the Iran nuclear talks starting in Vienna today to broach the subject of the Iraq crisis with envoys from Iran. On Friday, President Obama ruled out sending U.S. combat troops back to Iraq but left open other military options.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraq security forces, and I’ll be reviewing those options in the days ahead. I do want to be clear, though: This is not solely or even primarily a military challenge. Over the past decade, American troops have made extraordinary sacrifices to give Iraqis an opportunity to claim their own future. Unfortunately, Iraqis’ leaders have been unable to overcome too often the mistrust and sectarian differences that have long been simmering there, and that’s created vulnerabilities within the Iraqi government as well as their security forces.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Unnamed U.S. officials told The Washington Post that the Obama administration is now considering sending drones to Iraq. The USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier has recently arrived in the Persian Gulf. The carrier is accompanied by the USS Philippine Sea guided-missile cruiser and the USS Truxtun, also a guided-missile destroyer, both of which carry Tomahawk missiles that can reach Iraq. The United States has also begun evacuating some employees from its massive embassy in Baghdad.
AMY GOODMAN: Over the weekend, militants from ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, seized the northern town of Tal Afar after a fierce fight in the city of 200,000 people. Shiite militias are now fighting alongside the Iraqi army in an effort to retake cities from ISIS control.
This comes as ISIS is claiming it had massacred 1,700 Shiite soldiers in the city of Tikrit, but the claim has not been verified. Graphic photos have also been published online showing masked Sunni militants shooting dead captured Iraqi soldiers.
Meanwhile, in Britain, former Prime Minister Tony Blair is facing widespread criticism after he suggested the current crisis is not linked to the 2003 U.S. and British invasion of Iraq. Blair said, quote, "We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that 'we' have caused this. We haven’t. We can argue as to whether our policies at points have helped or not; and whether action or inaction is the best policy and there is a lot to be said on both sides. But the fundamental cause of the crisis lies within the region not outside it."
To talk more about the crisis in Iraq, we’re joined by Iraqi-American political analyst Raed Jarrar. He’s joining us from Washington, D.C.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Raed. We’ve spoken to you so many times during the Iraq War. Why don’t you respond first to what the former prime minister of Britain said, that it has nothing to do with the U.S. invasion and occupation, and the British, as well, of Iraq?
RAED JARRAR: Oh, I think it has everything to do with the U.S.-, British-led invasion and occupation. The idea of destroying the strong central government and creating three or more partitions in Iraq was heavily promoted at that time. It was promoted sometimes on the political level, but many times on the demographic level. We saw, during the occupation of Iraq, millions of Iraqis were displaced inside the country. Sunnis were kicked out of what we call now Shiite provinces, and Shiites were kicked out of what we call now Sunni provinces. Same happened with Kurds and Christians. So this ethnic cleansing happened during the occupation, laying grounds for making this partitioning a reality. So, I think, in retrospect, what’s happening in these few weeks of, you know, like an uprising in these Sunni-dominated provinces in Iraq can be directly traced to the divisions that were installed by the U.S.-led occupation in 2003.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Raed, I’m reminded of that very mundane, but prophetic, warning of Colin Powell to George Bush—if you break it, you own it—that in reality, the invasion of the United States and of Britain in 2003 really, it appears, has created instability still unresolved.
RAED JARRAR: Correct. And in addition to that, the U.S. is still interfering in Iraq. Although the last U.S. soldier left the country at the end of 2011, the U.S. continues to supply the Iraqi central government with weapons, training and other military assistance. This year alone, the U.S. is sending billions of dollars’ worth of jet fighters and other weapons. We just included $150 million in the defense appropriations bill for training Iraqi forces, although many human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have flagged a number of Iraqi security forces and militias as human rights abusers that the U.S. should stop funding. So in addition to the military funding, of course, there is a lot of support that—to legitimize the Iraqi central government. So this week’s narrative from the U.S. side is a good example of how the U.S. has been taking one side in this conflict all along. It has been arming and supporting one side of the conflict, and this side happens to be the Iraqi central government and the militias affiliated with it.
AMY GOODMAN: Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby confirmed over the weekend the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush was en route to the Persian Gulf. He discussed the possibility of the U.S. carrying out what he termed "kinetic strikes."
REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY: One of the capabilities that—that we are tasked to provide options for would be kinetic strikes, which can be incredibly effective and powerful, when done the right way, to achieve objectives. ... What we have is an armed militant group and network threatening the internal security of Iraq.
AMY GOODMAN: What is your understanding of what these, quote, "kinetic strikes" are, also the whole discussion about the drone strikes that could take place?
RAED JARRAR: I think it’s another fancy name of a U.S. military intervention. We have heard so many different words describing U.S. military interventions in Iraq and the region. And whatever you name it, I think, from the Iraqi perspective, this will be yet another example of a U.S. military strike on Iraq that will not be a part of the solution. The U.S. has been bombing Iraq since 1991, so it’s been 13 years of bombings, bombardments, or like 23 years if you count all of the years of the sanctions. And none of these campaigns were ever a part of a solution. The U.S. has historically been a part of the problem. So I think if the U.S. were to attack Iraq yet again, this will add another layer of complexity. It will make the situation inside Iraq worse, and it will threaten the U.S. interests in the region and the world, because the U.S. will become an active participant in this very bloody conflict.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to break and then come back to this discussion. We’re talking to Raed Jarrar. He is an Iraqi-American blogger, political analyst, joining us from Washington, D.C. What should the U.S. do? What should happen with Iraq? What will happen with the Iraqi regime? We’ll talk about al-Maliki, the prime minister. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would respond to any call for assistance from the Iraqi government as it fights an Islamist insurgency.
PRESIDENT HASSAN ROUHANI: [translated] Should the Iraqi government request any aid from us, we will of course address it. However, we haven’t received any request for specific aid so far. We are prepared to provide help within the frameworks of international law and the official request of the Iraqi government and nation.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Raed Jarrar, I’d like to ask you about not only the role of Iran right now and the potential for greater cooperation between the United States and the Iranian government, but also the role of Saudi Arabia and its relationship to ISIS.
RAED JARRAR: Let me start by saying the armed uprising in six Iraqi provinces has many other players from the Sunni side or the local population side. There has been a lot of focus on ISIS because it makes a good media story. It’s this crazy group. Everyone is an expert now on ISIS and where it came from. And it tells a compelling story for a U.S. intervention: There is an extremist terrorist group that is threatening a legitimate central government that is our friend. That is the narrative now. I think that is important to unpack and deconstruct, because, on the one hand, ISIS is one of many players in this uprising. It’s really naive to believe that one crazy terrorist group can take 50 percent of Iraq’s territory in a week. There are many other players, including—I think the most important players are tribal leaders in all of these provinces, and their armed militias, and former Iraqi officials from the Saddam Hussein government, led by the former vice president, Izzat al-Douri, who runs a group called al-Naqshbandi, a group. There are other smaller players like the Iraqi Islamic Army, the Mujahideen Army, the 1920 Brigades. There are, I would say, at least 12 other players. So it’s more indigenous. The vast majority, I would say, maybe almost everyone who’s fighting, is an Iraqi, unlike what the image that is being drawn by the Iraqi authorities.
On the other hand, there is a central government, of course, that is being supported by the United States. It’s mostly comprised of Shiite parties, and the army is almost exclusively Shia. And it’s surrounded by many local and foreign militias and forces, which is a good leeway to answer your question. The last few days witnessed an actual military participation by Iran. According to The Guardian, there are a couple thousand Iranian troops that entered Iraq. They’re most likely from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The first images of the first Iranian to be killed in Iraq from this Iranian Revolutionary Guard surfaced a couple of days ago online, and it seems that his funeral is held today in northern Tehran. From reading the captain’s biography online, the one who died in Iraq, it seems that he’s younger. He’s been sent to Syria before. So, it seems that there is an actual military involvement by Iran.
Saudi Arabia and other players have been involved very much in Iraq, as well. Saudi Arabia maintains strong relationships with the former Iraqi officials, including Izzat al-Douri, the vice president. And there are some rumors about Saudi Arabia supporting some other militant groups in Iraq. Let me take one step back and say that this regional intervention, whether it came from Iraq or—excuse me, from Saudi Arabia or Iran or Turkey or Jordan or whatever, these are also consequences of the destruction of the Iraqi central government in 2003, when Iraq had a legitimate, strong government. All of these neighbors existed around Iraq, but they were never able to manipulate the country and use their proxies for civil war inside the country before. And now, of course, with the new realities, this is how Iraq looks. I think everyone from the region has their hand in Iraq supporting one horse in that race.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, there’s been the whole question of whether the U.S. should intervene. The U.S. has been intervening to the tune of millions, if not billions, of dollars, with supporting weapons going to Iraq and the government of al-Maliki. Can you talk about al-Maliki, who he is, and what you feel needs to be done in Iraq, as an Iraqi yourself?
RAED JARRAR: I mean, as an Iraqi, I think there are a million things that have to be done in Iraq. It is extremely messy. And I think Iraq is going now through the worst stage in its contemporary history. There are real doubts that Iraq can maintain its territorial integrity, because the very national identity of Iraq has been destroyed, and now maybe overwritten by Iraqi sectarian and tribal identities. We’re talking about issues that need decades to deal with, and the current Iraqi government is completely dysfunctional and incapable of resolving any of these issues.
So, I think, from an Iraqi perspective, there isn’t really an easy solution, other than attempting to start a real dialogue. And so far, the Iraqi government has refused to start any dialogue. They’re calling any—anyone who is supporting the uprising in the six provinces, anyone who is not a, you know, complete supporter of al-Maliki, they’re calling them al-Qaeda supporters and ISIS members. I mean, for God’s sake, yesterday the Iraqi official channels were calling the governor of Mosul and the president of the Parliament, who happen to be brothers from al-Nujaifi family—they were calling both of them ISIS supporters. So, it’s—"ISIS supporters" is just a code for Sunni or, you know, not a member of the ruling elite now. So saying—I mean, from an Iraqi perspective, it seems that that is the most easy first step, which is sitting around the same table and stopping this polarization and calling anyone who does not agree with the government policies a terrorist.
From a U.S. perspective, as an American, I think we do have an easier mandate, an easier solution, and that starts with not interfering militarily. That is easier than having a proactive solution. From the U.S., I think not sending troops, not sending, you know, more airstrikes, not sending training and weapons is actually a step in the right direction. And there are other obligations that the U.S. can handle that are less controversial, such as humanitarian aid for refugees and IDPs and other nonpolitical issues.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Raed, how do you explain the breathtaking collapse of the Iraqi army in the face of what is not really a large guerrilla force lined up against them?
RAED JARRAR: It is surprising for an outsider, I think, to see how fast it fell. But in reality, it did not really fall in a week. It fell in a long time. Some people argue a decade; some people argue a few months. If we just go back to January of this year, the Iraqi forces attacked two unarmed, peaceful protest sites in Iraq—one in Hawija near Kirkuk and one in Fallujah. And this created a huge backlash against the Iraqi government in Sunni-dominated areas. There has been attacks against and, you know, by the Iraqi army and the militias supporting it in Fallujah and Anbar for at least the last four months. They’ve been throwing bombs on residential neighborhoods, getting attacked back. So this has been going on, and I think the building the infrastructure for a counter-government attack has been in the making for quite a time. So it wasn’t very surprising for Iraqis who have been following the situation, but I think it is still a surprise that armed forces that have been funded by tens of billions of dollars would just collapse in a couple of days. It just shows how fragile and dysfunctional the entire Iraqi military system is. And the fact that the Iraqi Parliament failed to meet to pass martial laws, because they couldn’t get a quorum, shows how dysfunctional the political system continues to be, if—
AMY GOODMAN: Raed, I wanted to ask about what’s happening with the Kurdish pershmerga forces, what role they’ve been playing in the wake of the ISIS insurgency, what’s happened with the takeover of Kirkuk by the Kurds. This is Brigadier General Sherko Fatah speaking Saturday.
BRIG. GEN. SHERKO FATAH: [translated] Because of the security situation in Kirkuk, peshmerga forces have taken over the positions of the 12th Infantry Brigade, who abandoned their posts, and soldiers abandoned their positions and fled. Because of the collapse of the morale, they could not defend themselves, and therefore they fled. In order to prevent the Islamic militants from taking over these positions and threaten Kirkuk city, higher orders were issued, first to move and take these positions.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the significance, Raed Jarrar, of the Kurds taking over Kirkuk in this oil-rich city in northern Iraq? And then there’s this breaking news: John Kerry has just spoken, the secretary of state, saying the U.S. is opening talks [sic] with Iran over Iraq, won’t rule out military cooperation. He says U.S. drone strikes may well be an option to stem ISIL advances in Iraq. But respond first on the Kurds.
RAED JARRAR: It’s very interesting to see the dynamic now between the uprising forces in the six Sunni provinces and the Kurdish authorities, because the Iraqi central government’s media have been criticizing the Kurdish authorities in the last couple of days, saying that they betrayed their relationships with al-Maliki, that they have been coordinating with the rebels, with the former Baathists, with the—like this type of accusations. Things on the ground actually suggest that there might be some coordination between the uprising forces and the Kurdish forces, because there were very minor clashes between the two sides, and so there might be actually some sort of political coordination. Keep in mind that the former Iraqi vice president of this regime, Mr. Tariq al-Hashimi, who fled to Turkey a few years ago, came out yesterday in support of the uprising in these six provinces. He called it the Iraqi Spring—very romantic, you know, for how destructive the situation has been. But Mr. al-Hashimi maintains very strong relationships with the Kurdish side. So, many people were reading that as maybe ha has been leading these coordinations between what’s going on in the six Sunni provinces and Kurdistan.
AMY GOODMAN: I just wanted to correct something in the breaking news: Kerry said that the U.S. is open to talks, not "has opened talks." But the significance of this?
RAED JARRAR: Well, so, it’s not very significant. You know, I have been personally speaking about how the U.S. and Iran are in the same bunker when it comes to Iraq. I’ve been saying that for over six or seven years now. And it doesn’t add up for U.S. audiences, because we’re used to seeing the U.S. and Iran at odds. They are at odds in other parts of the Middle East and the world, but in Iraq the collaboration started very strongly from day one. Iran played a strong role in toppling the former Iraqi government, and the U.S. played a very proactive, collaborative role with Iran all along. So that never stopped. Saying that they are going to add that to a negotiating table does not make any sense. They’re, both sides, fighting on the same side. It’s like saying the U.S. and Maliki will negotiate over how to fight against the uprising. Well, they’re on the same side.
If you want to negotiate with someone, I would say we have to reach out to the other side, people who are involved in the uprising, whether they are tribal and youth leaders in these six provinces or former officials who are flooding back to the country, former army officers who are running these operations—running fighter jets, for God’s sake. There are two fighter jets that were seen yesterday attacking current Iraqi army, flying out of the—you know, out of Mosul. So it just gives you a hint of how there is real institution behind the uprising. You can’t train two pilots in a day, you know. These people know what they’re doing. We’re not sure who they are, but I think bringing them to the table is the right step, rather than negotiating with people who we agree with and people who we’ve been supporting all along.
AMY GOODMAN: Raed Jarrar, I want to thank you for being with us. Of course, we’ll continue to follow this critical situation in Iraq and the greater region. Raed Jarrar is an Iraqi-American blogger and political analyst, joining us from Washington, D.C.
When we come back, we’re going to Rio de Janeiro, to Brazil, to talk about the World Cup. Stay with us.
Headlines:
•U.S. Considers Talks with Iran over Widening Iraq Crisis
The Obama administration is reportedly considering direct talks with Iran over ways to resolve the crisis in Iraq, where Sunni militants have continued to gain new ground. Over the weekend, militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, seized the northern town of Tal Afar. ISIS also claimed to have massacred 1,700 Shiite soldiers in Tikrit, but the number could not be verified. The United States has begun evacuating workers from its embassy in Baghdad. On Friday, President Obama ruled out sending U.S. ground troops back to Iraq.
President Obama: "We will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraq security forces, and I’ll be reviewing those options in the days ahead."
•Manning Criticizes Limits on Media Coverage of U.S. Wars
U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning has spoken out about the news in Iraq in a New York Times op-ed. Manning is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified information to WikiLeaks, including the "Collateral Murder" video showing a U.S. military helicopter strike in Iraq that killed two Reuters employees. In the op-ed, Manning criticizes the limits placed on reporters who embed with U.S. troops and describes an information gap between past news reports on the Iraq War and information she had access to as an intelligence analyst. "As Iraq erupts in civil war and America again contemplates intervention, that unfinished business should give new urgency to the question of how the United States military controlled the media coverage of its long involvement there and in Afghanistan," Manning writes. "I believe that the current limits on press freedom and excessive government secrecy make it impossible for Americans to grasp fully what is happening in the wars we finance."
•Kenya: Gunmen Kill 48 in Coastal Town
In news from Kenya, at least 48 people have been killed in a small coastal town where gunmen attacked two hotels, a police station and a bank. Authorities blamed the attack on the al-Qaeda-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab, which has carried out a series of recent attacks in Kenya.
•Pakistan Launches Major Assault on North Waziristan
Pakistan has launched a major offensive in North Waziristan, near the border with Afghanistan, mobilizing tens of thousands of soldiers. On Sunday, the military bombarded the area with air strikes, saying it killed more than 100 militants. The accused mastermind of last week’s deadly attack on the Karachi airport was reportedly among the dead. The United States has long called for Pakistan to launch a major assault on North Waziristan, which has been a frequent target of U.S. drone strikes. The United States resumed strikes last week after a six-month pause, killing 14 people in a span of 12 hours.
•Libya: Renegade General Launches Fresh Assault in Benghazi
In Libya, as many as 12 people have died in fighting after a renegade general launched a renewed assault on militants in Benghazi. Khalifa Haftar, who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising, has been joined by a number of army units in his bid to root out Islamist militants. The violence marks the worst fighting in weeks and comes less than two weeks before Libya’s parliamentary elections.
•Russia Cuts Off Gas Supply to Ukraine; Separatists Down Ukrainian Jet
Ukraine says Russia has cut off its gas supply amid a dispute over payment. Russia’s state-owned oil firm Gazprom had demanded upfront payments from Ukraine after it failed to repay debts. Gazprom said it would continue supplying gas to other countries in Europe. Tensions between Russia and Ukraine rose over the weekend as pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane, killing 49 people on board. On Friday, the Obama administration accused Russia of sending tanks and other heavy weapons to the separatists, a move it called "unacceptable."
•Brazilian Protester: "This is the Cup of Protests"
In Brazil, protests are continuing around World Cup sites across the country as the tournament enters its fifth day. In the capital Brasília Sunday, a protester condemned the billions of dollars Brazil has spent on the event.
Thiago Avila, protest organizer: "Today we are here for health, education and public services. This is the cup of protests, and we are strong. Here we want to protest every day that there is a game. This is the first one, but we can say that we are not scared to go into the streets. The streets today are the most important place in the city, and going into the streets is the most important democratic exercise at the moment."
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have accused the local police of using excessive force against demonstrators. In a video taken by the Associated Press on Sunday, a police officer can be seen firing what appears to be a live pistol round at protesters near Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. We’ll go directly to Maracanã Stadium for a report from Dave Zirin later in the broadcast.
•Israeli Forces Round Up 150 Palestinians, Kill 1 in Search for Teens
Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian and rounded up 150 others, including the speaker of the Palestinian Parliament, as part of a massive hunt for three Israeli teens who went missing in the West Bank last week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the Palestinian group Hamas of kidnapping the teenagers. Israeli forces have flooded residential areas, searching homes and effectively sealing off the city of Hebron. Earlier today an Israeli soldier shot and killed a 20-year-old Palestinian near Ramallah, accusing him of throwing rocks. At a rally in Gaza City this morning, protesters, including Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri, condemned Israel’s actions and voiced support for Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli jails.
Mushir al-Masri: "The main reason behind the tension is the Israeli occupation, which did not respond to the demands of the hunger-striking prisoners who have been fasting for over 50 days. There are 5,000 prisoners facing slow death, who have spent long decades in the Zionist enemy’s jails. So the life of Zionists is not more sacred than the life of the over 5,000 prisoners in the enemy’s jails. We warn Israel against the consequences of any stupidities, including the violation of international law."
The search for the Israeli teens comes a month after Israeli forces killed two Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank. An autopsy on one of the teens has confirmed he was killed by live bullets. Human Rights Watch has called the killings an "apparent war crime."
•Afghans Brave Violence to Vote in Presidential Runoff
Afghans went to the polls Saturday for the second and final round of voting in the runoff election to replace President Hamid Karzai. The head of the election commission said turnout topped seven million.
Ahmad Yousuf: "The estimated numbers of the participants in today’s election were more than seven million, which includes 38 percent of women and 62 percent of men turned out. Holding of a second round of presidential elections was a historic event in the history of our country. This election paves the ground for a democratic transition of the political process from one president to another."
The leading candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, who survived a recent assassination attempt, has questioned the high turnout report and voiced concerns about fraud. Scattered attacks on election day left dozens of people dead, including more than 30 civilians. A roadside bomb attack killed 11 people in the north, including several election workers, while 11 men in a western province had their ink-dipped fingers chopped off by the Taliban as punishment for voting. Official election results are expected next month.
•Colombian President Wins Re-election, Vows to Continue FARC Peace Talks
In Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos has won re-election in a runoff. The election was seen as a referendum on the future of peace talks between Colombia and FARC rebels. President Santos launched the peace talks in 2012, while his opponent, Óscar Iván Zuluaga, had heavily criticized them. On Sunday, Santos vowed to forge ahead with the talks.
President Juan Manuel Santos: "It’s true that it won’t be easy. There are always obstacles. There are always enemies. During the campaign, many showed their skepticism regarding the possibility of achieving peace and fears that it will come at any price. We’ve received your message. It will not be, and I’ve always said that this will not be peace with impunity. This will be peace with justice."
•U.S. General to Probe Circumstances of Bergdahl’s Capture
The U.S. military has tapped a two-star general to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl in 2009. Bergdahl is undergoing medical treatment in Texas after returning to United States last week following five years in Taliban captivity. An Army psychologist said his reintegration in society could take time.
Col. Bradley Kamrowski-Poppen: "I would love to tell you it’s going to be a certain amount of time. The reality is, we don’t know. There is no average time of reintegration. Each case is unique and different. I think this case is particularly unique for its length, over five years. And again, we know that he did not have any contact with U.S. servicemembers during captivity. He did not have a chance to have fellowship overall. So, it will proceed at his pace."
An earlier military report found Bergdahl likely walked away from his Army outpost in Afghanistan of his own free will, but stopped short of finding he planned to permanently desert. He had left assigned areas before and returned. Bergdahl has said he was beaten, tortured and locked in a cage after trying to escape his Taliban captors.
•Report: U.S. Failing to Inspect 4 of 10 Higher-Risk Oil & Gas Wells
A new review has found the Obama administration is failing to inspect four out of 10 new higher-risk oil and gas wells. The Associated Press reports the Bureau of Land Management has been overwhelmed by a surge in fracking and has not been able to keep pace with inspecting high-priority wells, including those near national forests or fragile watersheds. A former BLM field officer called the situation "a disaster waiting to happen."
•Study: CEOs Make Nearly 300 Times as Much as Workers
A new report finds CEOs in the United States earn nearly 300 times what workers do. The Economic Policy Institute says average CEO pay topped $15 million last year. The study excluded Facebook because its CEO pay rate is so high it distorts the numbers; if Facebook is included, the average CEO pay rises to $25 million, and the CEO-to-worker pay ratio rises to more than 500-to-one. Over the past 35 years, CEO compensation has risen 937 percent.
•Goldman Sachs CEO: Income Inequality "Very Destablizing"
The CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, criticized income inequality last week during an appearance on "CBS This Morning."
Lloyd Blankfein: "Income inequality is a very destabilizing thing in the country. In other words, it’s responsible for the divisions in the country. The divisions could get wider. If you can’t legislate, you can’t deal with problems. You can’t deal with problems, you can’t drive growth, and you can’t drive the success of the country. It’s a very big issue, and it’s something that has to be dealt with. One of the ways of dealing with it is to make the pie grow. And people are better at making the pie grow, but I have to say, too much of the GDP over the last generation has gone to too few of the people."
Lloyd Blankfein made $23 million last year, making him the highest-paid bank CEO in the United States.
•Massachusetts Poised to Pass $11-an-Hour Minimum Wage
Massachusetts is poised to approve an $11-an-hour minimum wage, the highest of any state in the country. The Massachusetts House is expected to approve the bill this week after it passed the state Senate, and Gov. Deval Patrick has signaled he will sign it. The bill would raise the current $8-an-hour minimum wage by a dollar each year until it reaches $11 in 2017. The move comes after the city of Seattle, Washington, made history earlier this month by approving the gradual phase-in of a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
•Radio Host, Arab-American Activist Casey Kasem Dies at 82
The radio host Casey Kasem, best known for hosting the American Top 40 countdown and for being the voice of Shaggy on the cartoon show "Scooby-Doo," has died at the age of 82. Beyond his radio work, Kasem was an Arab-American activist who championed a number of progressive causes, from veganism to fighting media stereotyping of Arabs. In the 1980s, Kasem was arrested at an anti-nuclear protest in Nevada and slept outside in Los Angeles to draw attention to homelessness. Kasem had suffered from Lewy body disease, a form of dementia. He died Sunday at a hospital in Washington.
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