The Common Ills: Nouri Saddam al-Maliki

"Foreign forces have to withdraw from the cities totally. This is a victory that should be celebrated in feasts and festivals." Rod Nordland and Marc Santora quote puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki making that declaration in "Iraqi Leaders Talk About American Troops, but Avoid Actually Mentioning Them" on A6 of today's New York Times (national edition). Apparently it would be considered bad form to note that actually it's "cities and major towns." That is what the US is supposed to withdraw from by June 30th and, no, it's not happening.

Nouri fancies himself the new strong man of Iraq, the new Saddam. And Nordland and Santora capture that as they note he's now positioned himself as commander in chief despite the fact that the Iraqi Constitution does not give him that power and that he received toadies yesterday who called him their "master" and "commander in chief" (the Ministry of the Defense being among the toadies). An unnamed US military officer attempted to attend but was sent packing by the one of 'master' Nouri's thugs.

Drunk on the smell of Nouri's cheap cologne (truly, he wears the cheapest cologne and over wears it, a detail that's yet to make it into domestic reports) the puppet's puppets engaged in a circle jerk where they self-praised and pretended they were running the country. And, insert laughter, runnig it well.

If you automatically thought "air force," the reporters go there. There is no Iraqi air force to speak of and the reporters have Gen Anwar Hama Ameen later admitting that it will take more than the optimistic US prediction of "tow and a half years" for the air force to be built. The reporters note that this and other realities were left out of the circle jerk. The paragraph that should haunt reads:

The tenor of the meeting reminded many of similar ones between Saddam Hussein and his commanders, which featured fawning speeches praising him, the use of the word "master" when addressing him, and a recitation by a nationalist poet. In Thursday's case, the poem was a recent one denoucning terrorism.

Meanwhile the AP reports members of Mississippias National Guard's 155th Brigade Combat Team is preparing for its second deployment to Iraq and notes the previous deployment resulted in 14 deaths.

June 3rd the Department of Defense issued the following statement: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. Justin J. Duffy, 31, of Cozad, Neb., died June 2 in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C." Pat Kinney (Waterloo and Cedar Falls Courier) reports his funeral services are today and quotes his aunt Michele George stating, "We're very devastated and saddened, but very proud of what he gave his life for. We appreciate that so much, like we do so many other men and women who give of themselves to defend this country."
His funeral is today, another soldier is buried tomorrow. June 5th, DoD issued the following: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Charles D. Parrish, 23, of Jasper, Ala., died June 4 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered earlier that day in Jalula, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by an anti-tank grenade. He was assigned to the 5th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo." DawnDee Bostwick (GateHouse News Service) reports he is survived by his wife Ashley, their four-year-old son Caden, and his parents Tina and Dennis Parrish. CBS 42 notes that visitiation services for Dusty Parrish are this evening with the furneral scheduled for tomorrow.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Nouri Saddam al-Maliki