Allawi's so-called "national secular perspective" will be severely tested in coming days and weeks. He could start by retracting his repeated incendiary warnings that there could be a return to sectarian violence if he is barred from the premiership. Allawi also needs to send a clear message to his neighbours that it is not only Iranian interference that is not welcomed, but also that of the "American occupiers", as he has always referred to the Multi-National Force in Iraq.
The above is from Rauf Baker's "Allawi faces challenges" (Gulf News) and Iraq held elections in March and still the wait for the formation of a government continues. Allawi's Iraqiya slate won the most seats in Parliament which was supposed to guarantee it the first crack at forming a government but Nouri al-Maliki's never been one to play by the rules or to respect them. So the second place whiner has thrown up one road block after another, formed a coalition with the Iraqi National Alliance and is now insisting that only he can be prime minister. Which would mean Iraq could be trapped in four more years of accomplishing nothing. His term began in 2006 and there is nothing praise worthy or distinguishing that can be said of it. In a functioning human, they would gladly step aside but functioning humans rarely run for leadership posts, it's usually wack jobs with major vanity issues and Nouri's no different in that regard. Suadad al-Salhy, Jim Loney and Samia Nakhoul (Reuters) report:
Iraq's two main Shi'ite political blocs agreed to unite weeks ago but the merger is hung up on disagreements about how to choose a prime minister and ways to limit his power, officials with the two coalitions said.
Sorting out the disputes may further delay a new government after an inconclusive parliamentary election nearly three months ago, deepening a power vacuum that has opened a door to insurgents determined to attack Iraq's nascent democracy.
Alsumaria TV adds, "While Iraqi Prime Minister stressed the necessity to choose one candidate from both coalitions for Premiership, Iraqi National Alliance might object given that it has several candidates each longing to take up the position." And they note Nouri's in Kurdistan trying to drum up support there.
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad sticky bombing which wounded one person, a Baghdad roadside bombing which left six people (three police officers) injured, two more Baghdad roadside bombings which claimed 1 life and left eight people injured, a Mosul car bombing which claimed the life of 1 Iraqi solider and left two people injured, a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer and left another injured and a Kirkuk roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer and left four more wounded.
Shootings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Mosul clash in which 2 police officers were shot dead,
Corpses?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered outside Mosul (a father and son) on Saturday. Reuters notes 2 female corpses were discovered in Mosul today (they had been suffocated).
It's Memorial Day, which we'll note in the next entry, and there's a question in the public e-mail account that we'll grab here. Six different people want to know if we're going to touch on Barack Obama not going to Arlington? They write that they're offended by his skipping out.
He had to skip out. It was that or risk a booing. Chicago was considered safer. Why a booing?
Things don't go away just because you ignore them. And just because they may seem unimportant to your own life, doesn't mean they are that way to everyone else.
Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, California
1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Nebraska
Spc. Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Gonzales, Louisiana
Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Cortland, New York
and Pfc. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Alabama
Those five mattered to the troops they served with, they mattered to their families, they mattered to their friends. And that the ringleaders of the attack on a US base in Iraq in which they were slaughtered, that these ringleaders were in US custody, in a US prison in Iraq and that Barack negotiated with this group (identified by the US as a terrorist group) and released the ringleaders in a weak-ass attempt to get 5 British citizens (kidnapped for over a year at that point) released has not gone over well. This is a huge story. You didn't read about it?
Not at all surprising. When the trade went down only one US outlet did a halfway decent job of reporting it (that outlet actually did better than that and the editor had to fight like crazy with stateside editors to get it and the follow up in the paper). Remember that when you watch all the hypocrisy today, all the pretense of 'honoring' the fallen.
The press covered up for Barack. If he wanted to have talks with terrorists or 'terrorists,' he should have the guts to answer to the people for it. He refused to. Fine. That just made the anger all the more. While the figureheads of many veterans organizations won't call him out, their rank and file will and Arlington's not a photo-op for him.
And that's why he now hides behind Joe Biden when dealing with veterans. With service members, it's not a problem. Just give them their orders to whoop and holler and hope they do (West Point cadets didn't). But those no longer serving are now private citizens and don't have to follow orders. To show up at Arlington Cemetery today was to risk a very public booing.
Barack can't even count on Michelle's nonsense p.r. because instead of doing the job she was tasked with, she wanted to play self-important and spent all her time with officers wives. We noted that the minute that she started her 'meet and greets'. Thomas E. Ricks noted it a few weeks ago. But most of the press still plays dumb on it.
And the undercurrent of ill will? It's never going away. These things are never forgotten. And 60 years from now when the press are busy spinning for someone else, the children and grandchildren of today's military will be putting the record straight about Barack in every classroom across the country.
Having dealt with that, let's deal with another thing. You can e-mail the public account to have anything noted. If it fits, it might be noted, it might not. But it is not anyone else's job to do your work for you. Meaning? Last week, one man sent three e-mails on things he'd written. Martha came across two, Eli the third. They asked about them and I asked if they saw anything in them worth noting? Well they hadn't read anything in them because it was just a link . . . Stop. If you don't include an excerpt or the thing in full, why are you bothering us? It's not our job to hunt down your writing. You're the one pushing your work. You need to do a better job of that. And repeating for the ____ time, we do not open attachments.
How perfect. There's an outlet I don't care for but I was going to note a piece there. The heading of the e-mail was attention getting. I just open the e-mail and all I've got is the link. That's how you promote your writing?
I have 32,241 unread e-mails in the public account right now. I've already gone through a ton and written replies that will be sent out later. I don't have time for it today and I can tell you that anyone working the e-mail account on a normal Monday through Friday doesn't have the time. If you're asking for something to be noted, you better be clear about what you want noted.
You're the one trying to promote your work or your event or your organization. No one has time to go through multiple e-mails clicking on links to find out what you're trying to promote.
There's really not time to go through all of that. If you're promoting something, you need to do that, not ask someone to click here or click there.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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