WHEN Desiree Rogers swept into Washington, she seemed the epitome of Obama cool. Sleek, black and stylish, she made clear that in her job as Social Secretary was not going to be a mere party planner. Instead, she would be the guardian of the “Obama brand” – and do so from centre stage.

Bitter and jobless after being replaced by a leading Democratic fundraiser, shunned by Obama’s inner circle and the subject of the usual finger-pointing anonymous briefings, Rogers is now fighting back. Her sorry tale says much about how the Obamas have failed to change Washington and how they blame others for their own failings.

A long-time Obama chum from Chicago – she got to know the First Couple because her ex-husband went to Princeton with Michelle Obama’s brother – she revelled in being in the limelight. Last April, she posed for a magazine interview wearing a $3,495 Jil (CORR) Sander silk pleated dress and $110,000 Old Mine diamond earrings.

During that interview, she remarked that “we have the best brand on Earth: the Obama brand”, adding: ‘Our possibilities are endless’. The “crown jewel” of the brand, the former marketing executive, opined, was the White House – which she compared to Unilever’s Dove symbol – and the key to success understanding “what your customers want and need”.

Without apparent irony, Time magazine described Rogers, 50, as viewing her job as “an artistic template for her own vision” rather than a mere staff position. She was in the front row beside Vogue editor Anna Wintour for New York’s Fashion Week and was described by an Obama aide as a “cultural liaison for the White House”.

Rogers fell to earth with a crash last November when three gate crashers managed to get into Obama’s first state dinner. The Social Secretary, naturally, was not on the gate but inside the event, resplendent in a Comme des Garçons gown. It was hard to feel sorry for Rogers who, after all, had remarked in an interview nine days into her job that she “put party planning at kind of E” on her list of priorities.

But anyone doubting that Obama has a ruthless streak should consider what happened to Rogers next. Summoned by Congress to account for the security lapse the White House – which had come into office promising a new era of transparency – forbade her to attend, citing a constitutional “separation of powers” issue.

Then the whispering began. Fellow Obama cronies like Valerie Jarrett – who lives in the same Georgetown apartment block – cut her off. Rogers was told she had to resign. And then news of her resignation was leaked before she could line up another job. All along, White House aides now confide, Rogers was a show horse rather than a work horse, someone who boosted herself at the expense of the First Couple and viewed the Obamas as a business.

Now, her remarks about the “Obama brand” are cited as how badly she got things wrong. This characterisation, however, was commonplace among Obama campaign aides. Obama’s image was carefully shaped and protected as a brand – and the logos, the staging and the merchandise all reflected that.

The lavish social events that Rogers arranged despite the recession were not only signed off on by the Obamas but were part of their self-conscious attempt to create a new Camelot.

That narcissism has led to an increasingly disconnected presidency. Obama holds campaign-style rallies but he preaches about what he desires rather than listening.

When someone hooted during a recent Obama event in St Louis, the President suggested it was a Republican politician because “they don’t like it when we’re talking the truth”. His opponents are not just wrong – they lie.

Perhaps Mr Obama’s biggest political flaw is that he seems to view himself as the personification of virtue and right-thinking. If Americans do not want health care reform, it’s because they are too stupid to realise they have been hoodwinked by Republicans.

If he is criticised for throwing lavish parties and portraying himself as a glamourous reincarnation of John F. Kennedy without attending to the details then the person to blame is the Social Secretary. With his polls numbers still sinking, however, the chances of voters blaming someone else for this hubris recede by the day.

Her father donated the statue of Jesus that is placed on the left side of the sanctuary during Easter season.

She and her late husband contributed $1,000 to build the social hall.

But she doesn’t feel part of the church anymore.

As she tries to cope with the changing demographics, Cartwright said she feels out of place in a church where Spanish is now as common as English.

“My church isn’t my church anymore,” said Cartwright, a 72-year-old Fontana resident who attends Blessed John XXIII Parish.

WASHINGTON — Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same unlikely place: the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn.Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers and to the shooters.

The use of guns that were once in police custody to attack police officers highlights a little-known divide in gun policy in the U.S.: Many cities and states destroy guns gathered in criminal probes, but others sell or trade the weapons in order to get other guns or buy police equipment.

In fact, on the day of the Pentagon shooting, March 4, the Tennessee governor signed legislation revising state law on confiscated guns. Before, law enforcement agencies in the state had the option of destroying a gun. Under the new version, agencies can only destroy a gun if it’s inoperable or unsafe.

Kentucky has a similar law, but it’s not clear how many other states have laws specifically designed to promote the police sale or trade of confiscated weapons.

A nationwide review by The Associated Press in December found that over the previous two years, 24 states — mostly in the South and West, where gun-rights advocates are particularly strong — have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions. Gun rights groups are making a greater effort to pass favorable legislation in state capitals.

John Timoney, who led the Philadelphia and Miami police departments and served as New York’s No. 2 police official, said he doesn’t believe police departments should be putting more guns into the market.

“I just think it’s unseemly for police departments to be selling guns that later turn up,” he said, recalling that he had once been offered the chance to sell guns to raise money for the police budget.

Denver Post

LEADVILLE — A Leadville mother, detained in connection with a terrorist conspiracy to kill a Swedish cartoonist, was lonely in a new town and craved attention and new friendships, family members say.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31 — questioned in Ireland for several days before reportedly being released Saturday — found new friends online as she began corresponding with a group of Muslims including, her family says, Colleen R. LaRose, 46, known as “Jihad Jane,” and admitted terrorist conspirator and former DIA shuttle-bus driver Najibullah Zazi.

“She couldn’t do anything that would make people take notice,” said her stepfather, George Mott, 51, himself a Muslim for more than 40 years. “Then she became a Muslim.

Though she never understood her new religion in any depth, she risked her future in support of extremist causes, Mott said.

Paulin-Ramirez was detained last week in Waterford, Ireland, with five others as part of an investigation into a plot to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. The artist had incited Muslims with his parody cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Irish police spokesman Tony Connaughton said Saturday that four people were released after talking with investigators while in custody.

The Associated Press reported that Paulin-Ramirez had been released, but Connaughton wouldn’t confirm that. Connaughton also wouldn’t say whether Paulin-Ramirez’s son, 6-year-old Christian Carreon, was with authorities.

Irish law allows people to be held for seven days without charges and does not require their names to be made public. If the public prosecutor finds cause, those released can be rearrested. Connaughton acknowledged that was unlikely in this case, because once released, the non-Irish nationals would probably leave the country.

Paulin-Ramirez’s mother, Christine Mott, and George Mott said their primary concern is for the welfare of Christian, who on Monday told his grandmother he has a sword and had recently learned how to fire a gun.

“She has put him in an environment that could get him killed,” Christine Mott said Saturday while sobbing uncontrollably. “He was being taught to shoot guns.”

A tangled life, then stability

Paulin-Ramirez was raised in a broken home and is bipolar, Christine said. She lost contact with her daughter for six years during her teen years.

In 2001, Paulin-Ramirez came to live with her mother in Denver after marriages to an abuser and an illegal immigrant. By then, the Motts had married and George Mott was in and out of jail, primarily on drug charges.

Paulin-Ramirez spent a lot of time cruising Federal Boulevard in Denver and identified with Mexican gangs, her mother said. Paulin-Ramirez colored her hair purple.

“She wore short skirts and tight jeans,” Christine said. “She was very wild.”

Christian’s father, Paulin-Ramirez’s third husband, was repeatedly deported to Mexico.

Paulin-Ramirez moved to San Diego and in 2003 was caught up with a group of “coyotes” who smuggled illegal immigrants into the United States, according to George Mott.

Paulin-Ramirez moved back to Colorado and enrolled in college. She got straight A’s in school, her mother said.

She earned an associate’s degree in spring 2007 but couldn’t find a job in the Denver area.

Instead, she found one at Eagle Care Clinic in Edwards, an office that primarily serves the poor and uninsured. She worked there for more than two years, said Dr. Kent Petrie, the clinic’s medical director, and was an “excellent and dedicated” employee.

Christine Mott, who is on disability, moved to the Leadville area shortly after her daughter did so she could help care for Christian.

Paulin-Ramirez worked as a medical assistant, setting up rooms and helping patients. Last fall, Petrie and some of the other office staff noticed she had started talking more about Islam and covering her head with a shawl.

“She wasn’t trying to convert us or anything, but it was a rapid transition,” Petrie said. “It was kind of a surprise to us. . . . She was never distracted, wearing the head coverings, the shawls.”

Tried to convert her mom

The Motts also said Paulin- Ramirez’s conversion to Islam was sudden. She had never been affiliated with a particular faith before. She started visiting Muslim websites and corresponding with Muslims on Internet chat rooms.

On Easter week last year, Paulin-Ramirez announced she was Muslim. She told her mother she would never wear a burqa, which covers most of the face and body. Then one day, the young woman began wearing a hijab, a scarf worn over the hair and neck. In the coming weeks, she would buy elaborate hijabs.

“She wouldn’t buy food for her baby, but she bought the scarves,” said Christine Mott as she took some of the head coverings out of a plastic bag and draped them on a coffee table.

Soon after buying the hijabs, Paulin-Ramirez began wearing a burqa.

She tried to convert her mother to Islam, Christine said. Paulin-Ramirez also began corresponding regularly with a Middle Eastern man named Ali.

Petrie, her boss, said he knew there was a man in Paulin-Ramirez’s life, and that she was corresponding frequently with him on the Internet.

“I’m not sure if it was a romantic interest or someone who was more of a leader in her life,” he said.

She was, the family discovered, corresponding with suspected terrorists including Jihad Jane and Zazi, the airport-shuttle driver who recently admitted his part in a plot to bomb the New York City subway system.

“We’re just, ‘Oh, boy,’ ” George Mott said of his reaction to that news.

Christine Mott said her daughter refused to listen to reason about her questionable correspondents, even after one told her he wanted to come to the U.S. and get a pilot’s license.

“That was a red flag,” her mother said.

George Mott forbade Paulin-Ramirez to use his computer, worrying that the FBI would discover her interest and they would all be arrested.

She told her mother she was going to Denver on Sept. 11. She left her car at Denver International Airport and flew to New York City.

Headscarves left behind

Petrie said the woman gave no notice. Staffers called the police to report that she hadn’t shown up for work.

“We’ve all been very concerned about her,” Petrie said. “We’ve been trying to get more information about her, and we never have been able to.”

Christine Mott said her daughter left a bag of her scarves and $300 behind. She filed a missing person’s report Sept. 15. Her daughter finally called a month later from Ireland.

Sgt. Saige Thomas of the Leadville police said it was apparent that something was wrong, but in the end, Paulin-Ramirez is an adult — and there was no evidence of foul play.

Christine Mott called the FBI agent who had investigated her daughter’s involvement in an illegal-immigrant smuggling case. George Mott gave the computer Paulin-Ramirez had used to the FBI agent to analyze.

On Monday of last week, Paulin-Ramirez called from Ireland. But George Mott said mother and daughter haven’t been able to speak for five minutes without getting into a screaming match since Paulin-Ramirez became a Muslim, and that Paulin-Ramirez almost immediately gave the phone to her son. That is when Christian said his name had been changed to Wahid.

The boy asked them to give a black-and-white kitten his old name, Christian. He said he was being taught how to shoot guns, the family said.

“He said all Christians will burn in hell and that Christians will be punished,” Christine Mott said.

She said even if her daughter has been released, her grandson remains in grave danger. She hopes to gain custody of the child but lacks the money to hire an attorney.

“If she thinks she’s out scot-free, is she going to go back to those people and put that baby in the same situation?” she said. “Even if they can’t prove it, these people are terrorists and that baby is still in danger.”

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 Nicholas Riccardi has a few more tidbits on this story

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Apparently, the family of Jamie Paulin-Ramirez are nothing but a bunch of a criminals (who hasn’t been arrested in that family?) who’ve known for a while that their daughter was conspiring with terrorists and so now that she’s been caught they’re trying to cover their butts.

Jihad Jamie Paulin-Ramirez                                Zazi

Jihad Jane Colleen LaRose

With more Turkish parents wanting their child to be born in the US, tourism companies are starting to offer ‘birth tourism’ packages to US cities. Many women say giving birth in the US has benefits including cheaper education and fewer visa worries. Some Americans, however, want to restrict the practice, citing fears of illegal migration

If Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 hit “Born in the USA” were to become popular again, the title might now refer to thousands of Turkish children whose parents are increasingly traveling to the United States to give birth.

According to tourism expert Gürkan Boztepe and media sources, 12,000 Turkish children have been born in the U.S. since 2003.The numbers are significant enough to draw the attention of tourism companies and inspire them to pursue “birth tourism.”

“We found a company on the Internet and decided to go to Austin for our child’s birth,” said Selin Burcuoğlu who gave birth to a daughter last year. “It was incredibly professional. They organized everything for me. I had no problem adjusting and I had an excellent birth,” she told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

Burcuoğlu said she and her partner chose to have the birth in the U.S. to make their child’s life more comfortable. “I don’t want her to deal with visa issues – American citizenship has so many advantages.”

Birth tourism

Burcuoğlu is not the only Turkish parent who wants her child to have U.S. citizenship. Many Turkish parents-to-be are now seeking tourism companies to “guarantee” their child’s life.

“We have been involved in medical tourism since 2002,” said Levent Baş, general manager of Gurib Tourism. “But we were also receiving so many demands about this issue that we decided to sell birth packages,” he told the Daily News.

“We first started our research in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Orlando and we only contacted Turkish doctors,” Baş said. “But we are preparing a package that covers everything from the flight and city tours to accommodation for several months and hospital expenses.”

In terms of cost, Baş said the minimum expense is $25,000, which rises to $40,000 if the destination is New York.

Birth tourism organizations are located throughout Turkey, including one run by Gürkan Boztepe in the Aegean province of İzmir. “Before, only celebrities gave birth in the U.S. We are now aiming, however, to make this service accessible to everyone. And surprisingly, our customers are not just from İzmir and Istanbul, there are also many people from smaller provinces, such as [southeastern] Gaziantep.”

Many families, however, do not want to talk openly about the process, according to the birth tourism operators. “Many people say they are doing it because they want their kids to get a cheaper education and not deal with visa issues when they grow up,” said Baş.

“But they don’t want to make it public. Even celebrities who have done this are trying to ignore the issue by saying they had to give birth in the U.S. because their doctors were there,” he said.

Arzu Geiger is an entrepreneur who lives in Gilbert, Arizona, and offers customers the option to stay in her home.

“We got the idea when a friend of ours wished to give birth in the U.S.,” she told the Daily News. “We realized that many women abroad may also wish to give birth in the U.S., but may have many concerns regarding arrangements or safety. Some women may choose to stay alone with us for the first few months, then move to separate living arrangements when family members arrive for the birth.”

While the small-scale companies have started investing in the birth market, bigger firms are also entering the market with alternative packages. The Turkish-owned Marmara Hotel group recently announced a birth tourism package that includes accommodation at their Manhattan branch.

“We hosted 15 families last year,” said Nur Ercan Mağden, head manager of The Marmara Manhattan, adding that the cost was $45,000 each.

Law Amendment

According to the U.S.’s 14th Amendment, the country grants citizenship to anyone born on its soil. At the same time, however, many have demanded the elimination of the “ius soli” law.

“They come to this country and have babies. The children are citizens. The children are eligible to go to school. They receive food stamps and social programs. The American taxpayers are paying for it,” said Republican Congressman Gary Miller last month, who is co-sponsoring a bill that seeks to abolish birthright citizenship for children born in the country to illegal immigrant parents.

According to Emre Özgü, a partner at law firm Barst Mukamal & Kleiner LLP in New York, people in favor of tightening immigration laws have been attempting to end “ius soli” citizenship for years.

“Those trying to restrict immigration argue these babies, who are occasionally called ‘anchor babies,’ serve as a key link in the ‘chain immigration’ process that they would like to see eliminated. However, there is no current pending legislation before Congress that would limit the claim to U.S. citizenship of a child born in the U.S.,” Özgü told the Daily News.

When asked whether birthright citizenship could be considered a loophole in the law, Özgü said he would not classify the “ius soli” citizenship as such because it is explicitly included within the U.S. Constitution.

“While it can be controversial, birth tourism is legal in the U.S.,” said Geiger. “Some of the major concerns expressed with birth tourism are that the mother and baby can access free health and social benefits at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. We do not accept customers in this manner – they are responsible for the payment of their own medical expenses.”

Baş, however, thinks U.S. authorities are ultimately unconcerned by the practice. “I think the United States is aware of such a law, otherwise they would prevent it. I think it is part of an integration policy. They want people to become American citizens.”

Other examples

Birth tourism to the U.S. is not just popular in Turkey but also in Asian countries such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. According to a Los Angeles Times report, many South Korean parents-to-be have chosen to give birth in the U.S. for many reasons, ranging from a desire to enroll their children in American schools to enabling them to avoid South Korean military service.

The birthright citizenship formerly applied to other countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia but both countries modified their law in the mid-1980s.

India maintained such birthright law until 2004, but ended the right to prevent continued illegal immigration from neighbors Pakistan and Bangladesh.

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Heads_Up FR

Enlarge

In Iraq we are now where we should have been in 2005 if the Sunni Arab community had not staged a bloody revanchist insurrection. The parliamentary elections on March 7 gave us a good snapshot of the real Iraq: an insecure Sunni Arab minority more or less united in one bloc, the Shiite Arab majority building self-confidence and naturally fracturing along religious/secular lines, and the Kurdish (predominantly Sunni) minority united against the Arabs but internally fractious and increasingly dissatisfied with the two families who’ve ruled Kurdish politics for decades. 

At first glance, we’ve got a four-way horse race, where shifting coalitions could produce surprising results (a Kurdish-religious Shiite coalition, a Sunni Arab-secular Shiite coalition, or even a Sunni Arab-Kurdish alliance, for example). Although the returns aren’t final at this writing, it appears Shiite prime minister Nuri al-Maliki’s State of Law slate has come in first; the Iraqiya coalition, which represents Arab Sunnis and some secular Shiites, a close second; and the National Alliance, which pulls together a wide array of Shiites, especially from the more religious south, a close third. The Kurds, meanwhile, split their vote between the Kurdish Alliance, which is the disputatious marriage of the Barzani and Talabani political machines, and the feisty independent Change Movement led by Nawshirwan Mustafa. 

If this outcome had been reached in 2005 we all could have popped the champagne. Instead, in 2005, only the Shiite Arabs and Kurds went en masse to the urns. Since then we’ve had three years of hell and one year of purgatory (Muslims have no intermediate stage between heaven and hell, but the new Iraq is going politically and theologically where no Arabs have gone before). Most pivotally, we had the Battle of Baghdad in 2006-07. 

If Iraq continues down a democratic path, the results of that battle—not the presence of U.S. troops over the last seven years—will likely prove to have decided the country’s fate. We will soon get to see whether Iraq’s Sunni Arabs really can live with the military defeat they suffered in 2007 and the political defeat they suffered last week. We will soon get to see if they can live without the Americans (who, in a truly surreal turnaround, are now the protectors of the very Sunni Arabs who once drove the insurgency against the invader). Politically, the Iraqi Shia are unlikely to be generous with their erstwhile Sunni overlords. Washington can continue to encourage them to be so. But in Iraqi Shiite eyes what Washington has been doing since the surge began in 2007—when General David Petraeus started paying Sunni tribes to stand against al Qaeda and with the Americans—is bribing the Sunnis to behave. The administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama have wanted, truth be told, the Shia to accept a kind of affirmative action: For peace and a quicker American withdrawal, we’ve wanted the Shia to give the Arab Sunnis political and economic guarantees that exceed Sunni Arab electoral power. (The Arab Sunni community represents at most 20 percent of Iraq’s population, the Shiite Arabs about 60 percent, and the Kurds the remaining 20 percent.)

In a very Arab way, the Americans have been trying to fight sectarianism through a reward system based on sect. Good democrats that we are, Americans don’t say this. But ideally that’s what we’d like to see: a firm informal understanding that gives the Arab Sunnis a political check on the Shiite majority. Such an arrangement has become ever more appealing in Washington as the specter of Iranian influence in Iraq has risen. Although Washington’s foreign-policy establishment is usually too sophisticated to say flatly that Shiite equals pro-Persian, a pro-Arab-Sunni reflex is deeply embedded in the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon, and much of the think tank world that feeds the government. It’s an odd view, given the history of relations between Iraqi and Iranian Shiites, which have been defined by suspicion, animosity, and envy more than brotherly love. Still, it persists.

Deeply scarred by Baathist rule and savage insurgent Sunni attacks, and well aware of the disastrous economic state of their religious brethren in southern Iraq, the Iraqi Shiite political establishment will likely give the Sunnis no more than what their numbers demand in parliament (and that may not be much). No matter what happens in the formation of a new government, the Shia are unlikely to increase state subventions to Sunni Arab paramilitary organizations—the anti-al Qaeda “Sons of Iraq” groups that the Americans want incorporated into the Iraqi Army and that the Shiite community deeply distrusts. The pre-election disqualification of some Sunni candidates was probably in part a bit of Shiite electoral hanky-panky against popular Sunni leaders, who may or may not have a bothersome Baathist background. But it was above all an assertion of Shiite determination that “never again” means “never again.” 

It’s a strong bet that these disqualifications—which do not seem to have depressed Sunni participation—are highly popular among the Shia. Ahmad Chalabi, a leader of the National Alliance, whom the American press and Washington’s top general in Iraq, Raymond Odierno, described as an Iranian-guided Beelzebub behind the effort to blacklist Sunni Arab candidates, undoubtedly gained in popularity among the Shia from the American onslaught against him. (It is astonishing to see American officials, who have before labeled Chalabi an Iranian agent only to see him rise like Lazarus, repeat the same mistake. Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and her aide Robert Blackwill had the excuse of near total ignorance of Iraq and Chalabi; General Odierno and Ambassador Christopher Hill should know better.)  

But the Arab Sunnis will have peace—if they want it. There is absolutely no detectable desire among Iraq’s Arab Shia for a renewed war against their Sunni compatriots. Even the Sadrists, who led the fiercest, vengeful death-squads against the Sunni community, give no hint that they want combat again with the Sunnis. (The same cannot be said when the Sadrists talk about Prime Minister Maliki, who led the army against them in Baghdad and in Basra.) The Sadrists have dropped the Shiite millenarian language that once scared the Sunnis. Moktada al-Sadr, exiled in Iran, is, as he probably knows, testing the historic Shiite idea of gheibat, “absence,” where a spiritual leader disappears and then returns to lead the faithful. Democracy isn’t kind to absentee politicians, which is, no doubt, why Sadr himself spread rumors of his return to Iraq. But neither he nor his movement is a threat to Iraqi democracy. The Sadrists still have some street power and passion and the possibility of a political impact if the plight of the Shiite poor worsens. But they are playing the democratic game. Only a renewed Sunni attack against the Shia will re-radicalize them. 

The Shia won the Battle of Baghdad, and they are increasingly confident they could win any future war—much more decisively, thanks to American training of the Shiite-led Iraqi Army. Rather than give the Sunnis an equal share in government, which is what Sunni politicians really want, the Shia would probably fight. But there is likely considerable political wiggle room between Sunni revanchist dreams and Shiite stubbornness. The Sunni Arab community now has a political voice in the Iraqiya slate, headed by the longtime favorite son of the Central Intelligence Agency, the über-secularist and nominally Shiite Ayad Allawi. This is a much more potent, appealing, and flexible coalition than its predecessor, al-Tawafuq, which proved too lame, too religious, and too authoritarian. It’s not clear now how Iraqiya could compromise sufficiently with the Kurds (Iraqiya’s Sunni Arab core is vehemently opposed to Kurdish autonomy) or even with Maliki’s party to gain real political power (Maliki, no less than Chalabi, is strongly opposed to de-de-Baathification and obviously doesn’t care for putting more Sunni militiamen on the state payroll as soldiers). 

But Shiites and Sunnis could work incremental deals. Public largesse could probably be increased for Sunnis. Not much, though, since Iraq still has very little cash in relation to the country’s needs and the price of oil. Giving the Sunnis too much—considering that they are vastly better off than southern Shiites, parts of whose region look as if they just exited the Stone Age—would likely be political death for a Shiite politician. But small deals might be enough to keep Sunni elders content, if not thrilled. As Iraq’s oil and gas revenues rise, as they will one of these days, that stress is likely to ease, and incremental gains could become substantial. And as odd as it might sound, Chalabi the patrician is more likely to help the process of Sunni-Shiite reconciliation than most other senior Shiite politicians, many of whose families were truly savaged by the Baath. Chalabi is an old-school Iraqi. He can wax (ahistorically) poetic about Iraq in the 1950s, before the Hashemite monarchy fell. That’s a good thing. He has memories of Sunnis and Shiites in happier times, the movers and shakers of Iraq gathered around his father’s dining room table and swimming pool. Like all patricians, he sees the world through families and a socially and intellectually complex matrix that does not discriminate rigorously by creed. Chalabi is never one to waste a political opportunity, but he is also a man of profound sentiment. His sentiments encompass Sunnis. With Shiite politicians, that is not always the case. 

The issue really is Sunni expectations. The March 7 elections raised them. Allawi did his side no favors by often suggesting that things could change dramatically under his leadership. The next few months will be telling as politicians come down to earth after the campaign. If the Sunnis can live with the fact that a democratic Iraq will always disappoint their clannish aspirations for political preeminence and a right to live off state subsidies, then Iraq’s future is pretty bright. The Americans really ought to have one overwhelming goal: hang around. Not in large numbers. The drawdown of U.S. troops is a good idea. But we should view Iraq the same way we viewed postwar Germany, France, and Italy. The presence of American troops was the ultimate guarantor that those countries would not slip back into dictatorship. 

Washington shouldn’t choose sides in Iraq, and it shouldn’t intervene in Iraqi politics except in extremis. But we do want to be there, in the background, as we were in Europe. Even Shiite politicians who vociferously oppose an American troop presence can privately suggest a more nuanced view. As the journalist Tom Ricks has suggested, American combat troops could be given a more anodyne label—stabilization forces, a support presence. Our training mission with the Iraqi Army and police is going to take years. Needless to say, most Sunnis will be thrilled. The problem will be with the Shia. We’ve not played Shiite politics brilliantly (as the stupid war against Chalabi demonstrates). But a constructive, unobtrusive U.S. presence is doable if the Obama administration handles the issue deftly. 

If the White House really is worried that Iraq could become an Iranian satrapy, that’s another reason for a small but potent U.S. military force to stay there. Iraqi democracy is a big deal. The American left and right, which have dismissed its evolution and belittled the American achievement in giving it birth, are stuck in the past, in an unchanging Middle East that never existed. What’s happened in Iraq since 2003—and what’s happened in Iran since last June 12—really ought to plant the possibility that the Islamic Middle East isn’t a hopeless case. Some change there just might be progress. Accepting this will cause indigestion for those who’ve been unalterably attached to the image of post-Saddam Iraq as “the biggest strategic failure in American history” and who’ve denounced the pointlessness of promoting democracy “through the barrel of a gun.” Unfortunately, Barack Obama once belonged to this group. But as president he has proven flexible in foreign affairs. With him, as with Iraq after another successful election—freer and more competitive than any election in the history of the Middle East—there are reasons to hope.

British workers have been turned away from jobs in a local factory – for not speaking Polish.

Cooked meat manufacturer Forza AW effectively barred anyone but Poles for applying for jobs on its production line in East Anglia by insisting all staff speak the language fluently.

The company claimed it was necessary as all health and safety training was conducted in Polish.
But Forza – a major supplier of Asda supermarkets – was last night accused of anti-British discrimination because of the adverts, which came after an official report detailed how unscrupulous employers prefer to hire migrants because they are cheap and less inclined to answer back.

Forza’s insistence on Polish speakers may be illegal, as a spokesman for the Government Equalities Office said last night: ‘Under the 1976 Race Relations Act, unless there is a genuine need for a worker to speak a particular language it is against the law to require that they should do so as a condition of employing them.’

Forza’s advertisement came as the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report condemned the ‘mistreatment and exploitation’ of foreign workers, who are often too afraid to raise concerns for fear of being sacked.

The commission said it uncovered ‘widespread evidence’ of physical and verbal abuse and lack of proper health and safety protection, while workers often have little knowledge of their rights. 

It is also reported that British workers had spoken of difficulty in registering with employment agencies that supply mainly East European workers.

Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said the advert exposed the hollowness of Gordon Brown’s pledge to create ‘British jobs for British workers’.

English not necessary: The advert in a local shop

He added: ‘He must regret ever saying that because it has proved a cruel deception for millions of the unemployed.’

Forza’s advert was sent out via email by East Anglia-based employment agency OSR Recruitment earlier this month.

Headed ‘Immediate factory work available!!!!’ it continued: ‘If you are available or have any friends available, work is starting tomorrow for induction training.

‘Ongoing factory work (meat production) for 4-5 months, shifts are 7am-5pm or 9am-7pm.

‘Transport provided. Applicants must speak Polish. Please call asap!!!!!!’

The advert was signed Katrina Massingham, the company’s ‘industrial team leader’ and it was dispatched to hundreds of potential applicants on the firm’s books.

One job seeker, who contacted The Mail on Sunday after receiving the email, said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when I first read it – are we in England or Poland, for goodness sake?

‘If it was a job where you were flying back and forth to Warsaw, I could understand it, but you wouldn’t think language ability would be high on the list of requirements for someone packing sausages all day long.’

A reporter listened in as the 31-year-old man called OSR to ask about the jobs last Tuesday.

The first question he was asked was: ‘Are you Polish?’ When he said no, but could speak the language ‘a little’, he was told: ‘Actually, you have to be fluent because the health and safety training is all done in Polish.’

By Friday, however, after The Mail on Sunday rang again several times and got the same response, the company appeared to have second thoughts about the wisdom of the advert.

An OSR employee gave a different version to a Polish-speaking reporter saying: ‘Actually, you don’t have to be Polish, but it helps.’

When another reporter posed as an English applicant, Ms Massingham told him that all the jobs had been filled but that the language requirement was ‘not too important now’.

She added: ‘For some reason the training was in Polish but we’re trying to get them to change it, because it’s a bit silly, really’.

Earlier, OSR also posted the advert in Polish in several of the Eastern European shops in East Anglia.

In one, the manageress took the ad over the phone, and – when asked to translate it from English – was surprised to hear the line about needing to speak Polish.

‘It was weird, and I assumed it was a mistake,’ she said. ‘After all, we’re in England. So I translated that part as “English not necessary” instead. There have been quite a few people following up the advert since it went up.’

The advert, as she had translated it and posted in her shop, read: ‘Work for Poles. Urgent! Production line work starting March 5, 2010, Full-time (5 days a week). Transport from Norwich city centre and uniforms provided. English not necessary. OSR Agency, Katrina or David.’

Last night, Forza AW  claimed the advert was ‘a mistake due to a breakdown in communications and should never have gone out’.

Forza is a leading supplier to supermarkets, and holds a multi-million- pound contract to supply the majority of Asda’s cooked meat range.

Led by £780,000-a-year Max Hilliard, once described as the most powerful man in the British pig industry, it has a £140million turnover and 600 employees. It is normally based in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, but about a third of its plant was destroyed in a blaze last month.

As a temporary measure, the company leased factory space and machinery at Bernard Matthews Farms’ huge plant in Great Witchingham, just outside Norwich.

The turkey producer was able to offer spare capacity as its busiest time is some months away.

There is no other connection between the two firms. As dawn broke over a rainswept Norwich on Friday, Mail on Sunday reporters watched as ten Eastern Europeans who had been hired after answering the advert gathered outside a John Lewis store waiting for the 6am bus to take them to their long shift.

Stopping three times elsewhere in the city to pick up more workers, the vehicle made its way ten miles north to Great Witchingham.

Once out of the bus, virtually every one of the workers took the chance for a last cigarette before entering the plant for the start of the 7am shift. At the same time, workers in other buses arrived from all over Norfolk and Suffolk, some to work for Bernard Matthews, others for Forza.

Yesterday, Mr Hilliard, claimed the advert’s wording was a mistake and due to a ‘breakdown in communications’ between his firm and OSR Recruitment. He said he was unaware of the ‘Must speak Polish’ clause until The Mail on Sunday alerted him to it.

‘In normal circumstances, this ad would have been vetted and the error removed,’ said the 51-year-old, who is Forza’s chief executive and principal shareholder, owning 60 per cent of the company.

‘But following the chaos of the fire, and the necessity to quickly set up production with 400 workers in another part of the country, the mistake was made but wasn’t spotted.

‘We employ many English workers as well as Poles and Lithuanians, though I can’t give you exact figures, and I assure you categorically that all our training and health and safety briefings are conducted in English, Polish or whatever the employee speaks.

‘I cannot say how this error came about, perhaps a glib comment was made about the difficulty of operating in several different languages, I don’t know, but we would never turn down an English person for a job on the basis that they didn’t speak Polish or any other language.

‘When we moved production down to Norfolk, we contacted the Gangmasters’ Licensing Authority to be put in touch with a reputable agency, and were directed towards OSR Recruitment.

‘I did speak to them in person about our requirements, but I didn’t see the finished advert. It should never have happened and I apologise to anyone who was put off applying for jobs as a result of this email.’

Asked whether the firm would be using OSR for recruitment in the future, he declined to comment.

Forza has become a giant in the processed meat industry in just two years. It specialises in pre-packed and pre-sliced deli-counter style products. Mario Bardwell, a director of OSR Recruitment, refused to discuss the email when approached by The Mail on Sunday. He asked us to put the questions to him in an email – but still did not respond to the written enquiry.

Forza recently announced plans to double its payroll to 1,200 staff, after winning a new contract, and has been considering plans to move to larger premises.

However, the fire at the existing West Yorkshire factory has affected migrant workers there.

Some of the plant’s 600 staff, many of them migrants supplied by local recruitment company Red Rock On Site Services, were sent home. And if they have worked in Britain for less than a year, they are unable to claim benefits.

Helena Danielczuk, who works for Bradford mental health charity Sharing Voices, said she had been approached by more than a dozen Eastern European workers who lost their jobs at Forza.

She said: ‘They have to work for an unbroken 12 months otherwise they are unable to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance. Some of them are destitute.’ The charity has called for financial support for migrant workers left without work because of the fire.

In the late Nineties Mr Hilliard was boss of Malton Foods, then owned by dairy giants Unigate, which bought about a third of the pigs processed for meat in Britain.

He was at the centre of protests from pig farmers when he was awarded the industry’s top prize despite being behind cuts to farmers’ prices three times in a year. National Farmers’ Union members said that it was ‘like giving Saddam Hussein the Nobel Peace Prize’.

The new row will reopen the fierce debate touched off by the recent BBC documentary The Day The Immigrants Left, in which Britons took over migrant workers’ low-paid jobs.

In the film, presented by Evan Davis, some of the featured locals from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, complained they were routinely turned down for factory work as they were English, an assertion denied by one boss of a potato-packing factory who said: ‘Where British workers are, I don’t know, but they’re not applying for jobs.’

But when two of the participants, jobless Paul North and Terry Garner, did apply for jobs after a successful stint on the shop floor, they were told ‘no suitable vacancies were available’.

Mr Garner said he was ‘not surprised in the least’ to hear that such as discriminatory advert had been issued on behalf of Forza.

He said: ‘I don’t know what the story is with this firm, but I am sure this kind of thing goes on all the time, only the employers are less obvious and just sift through the applications to find the foreign workers.

‘I’ve got nothing against foreigners – they do work hard, but they do it for less money, because they often don’t bring their families and they’ll share accommodation to bring down their overheads.

‘They might pay tax, but at the end of the day, most of the money they’re paid goes back to their own country and not into our economy.’

Mr Garner and Mr North are both currently working as temporary cable layers.

Bosses at Bernard Matthews were said to be upset that the offending advert might – however unfairly – tarnish the firm’s reputation. The company was recently praised by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in its report into migrant workers in the meat and poultry industry.

While the body uncovered widespread abuse of migrant and agency workers, including a lack of proper health and safety protection, Europe’s largest turkey producer was singled out for special praise.

The report stated: ‘One firm that was frequently mentioned as an employer of choice for agency workers was Bernard Matthews.

‘This was because of the respect for, and lack of differentiation between, agency staff and directly employed workers, and the steps taken to promote good relations between different nationalities.’

A Bernard Matthews spokesman said last night: ‘Forza are leasing spare capacity at our plant while they get over the fire at their factory in Yorkshire, but there’s no other link between the two companies.’

The company stepped in less than a week after the blaze, leasing its facilities for Forza for six months.

Meanwhile, an Asda spokesman added: ‘While we recognise that these were extraordinary circumstances for Forza, we’re pleased that they’ve quickly recognised the advert was a mistake.’

CARREFOUR, Haiti — Servicemembers who contracted malaria in Haiti could be punished for failing to follow the prevention protocol, according to the Joint Task Force overseeing earthquake relief operations here.

Last week, the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit confirmed that two Marines deployed to Haiti had contracted malaria. Ten soldiers have also come down with the disease during the relief operation, according to U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Amber Cargile, deputy public affairs officer for Joint Task Force Haiti.

On Thursday, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment commander Lt. Col. Robert Fulford, 39, briefed Marines about the malaria cases and reminded his men to keep taking their anti-malaria pills.

The Marines working in Carrefour, a medium-sized city just up the coast from Port-au-Prince, are under constant attack by mosquitoes, which transmit malaria through their bites. To protect themselves, the Marines are told to use repellent, sleep under mosquito nets and take doxycycline anti-malaria pills daily. That should be an effective preventive approach, but “nothing is 100 percent effective,” said Dr. Larry Slutsker, chief of the malaria branch at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Just as with the measles vaccine or any kind of protection, nothing is perfect,” Slutsker said.

Medics assigned to the 82nd Airborne Brigade said last month that missing more than one dose of the daily medication could leave a person vulnerable to malaria.

Marines in Carrefour said they’ve been told they could face nonjudicial punishment, for disobeying an order to take their daily anti-malaria pills, if they contract the disease.

Cargile said the decision to punish a servicemember in such circumstances would be up to individual unit commanders based on the circumstances of each case.

22nd MEU public affairs officer Capt. Binford Strickland said Haiti is known for hosting vector-borne illnesses such as malaria.

“The 22nd MEU has always and will continue to take malaria prevention seriously, and our application of preventive medicine will remain very proactive,” he said.

Medical personnel diagnosed both malaria cases last week, Strickland said, adding that the infected Marines received immediate treatment with anti-malaria medicine.

“We are confident these isolated cases will have a positive outcome as the form of malaria in this part of the world can be eliminated from the bloodstream when diagnosed early,” he said, adding that both infected Marines are expected to recover.

Every Marine and sailor has been educated on the requirements for taking the preventative medication and risks associated with failing to follow regimented care. Unit leaders are responsible for setting procedures for taking anti-malaria pills, Strickland said.

“The MEU medical personnel issue prophylaxis to the Marines and sailors, and unit leaders ensure they take the pill at a consistent point every day,” he said.

Procedures vary from using mass formations to ensuring that each Marine signs for his pill, and takes it in the company of others, he said.