The Common Ills: Iraq: If the bombs don't kill you, the rats might

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Iraq: If the bombs don't kill you, the rats might

Iraq is slammed with bombings today. Alsumaria quotes a Baghdad Operations Command spokesperson declaring there were five bombs (car bomb and sticky bombings) northwest of Baghdad alone today. Alsumaria counts 6 dead and 14 injured in bombings northwest of Baghdad. All Iraq News notes a Baghdad mortar attack left three people injured. CNN adds a Baghdad car bombing has claimed 2 lives and left ten people injured and they count 11 dead and thirty-two injured in the day's violence.

The political crisis continues in Iraq. There are many requests at this point for Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and chief thug, to appear before Parliament. Last week, the latest request was made and this was for Nouri to explain himself with regards to the Central Bank. Nouri's resisting as he has with all other requests. Per the Constitution, if Parliament summons a prime minister, he or she must appear before them. But Nouri's never obeyed the Constitution. Dar Addustour reports rumors of how Nouri may get his way yet again: He has files on members of another party, apparently dating back to 2007, which would, if revealed, 'implicate' them in terrorism. The most obvious blackmail targets are the Kurds and Iraqiya. But if you think back to 2007 and the Diyala attack (by US forces and Nouri's Baghdad forces) that lasted through 2007, what may stand out the most is who they were kicking out: the Mahdi militia. In other words, whether there's any proof of anything there or not, the most obvious target of his whisper campaign would be Moqtada al-Sadr.

State of Law (Nouri's political slate) is all over the Iraqi press insisting they're not the reason that the Fedral Court Act hasn't passed. It's probably going to have the same legs that yesterday's story about the back and forth between Ammar al-Hakim (ISCI leader) and a Saudi newspaper did (no traction).

More interesting is State of Law echoing talking points of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (such as in this All Iraq News article). Or All Iraq News quoting State of Law MP Mansour al-Tamimi expressing support for Jalal. This comes, no surprise, as All Iraq News features Iraqiya MPs quoting Jalal's committment to the process of resolving the political crisis. Alsumaria notes that Jalal met with the Sadr bloc. The bloc. Moqtada, like many in Iraqiya, feels stabbed in the back by Jalal's actions last May.

Meanwhile, it's apparently not enough that two villages in Basra are being terrorized by packs of wild dogs, Al Rafidayn reports that large numbers of large rats are damaging store goods, farm produce and biting children throughout Basra. Abu Mohammed is quoted stating that the plague of rodents has lasted for over a year now and that the residents see it as terrorism . Abu Ali notes that rats have attacked their children resulting in nose and finger wounds and they have damaged their home. It's as though the rats are coming out of the sand, says another and the bait and poison that once worked now does not.

The following community sites -- plus On the Wilder Side, Adam Kokesh, The Diane Rehm Show, C-SPAN, Antiwar.com, Susan's On the Edge, The Bat Segundo Show, The World Can't Wait and Jody Watley -- updated last night and this morning:

OntheWilderSide

Tonight! Tues Oct 23rd: Another (better) debate!

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