Monday, October 15, 2012

Things we care about, things we're not interested in

In Basra, we've noted two girls under the age of six have been kidnapped and found raped and murdered.  If any others are, we'll note that as well.  But we're not endorsing Iraqi 'justice.'  Al Mada has a report on the arrest of three people for the rape and murder of one of the girls, Abeer Mohammed.  Dar Addustour also notes the arrests.  Those stories and Alsumaria's report note that the three arrested have confessed.  Iraq's 'justice' system has a history of forced confessions and we do not and will not accept the premise that confessions under torture are accurate.

It's easy to trumpet "3 arrested!" -- especially in such a brutal and vile crime.  But forced confessions aren't confessions.  It's also worth noting that journalist Hadi al-Mahdi was assassinated September 8, 2011, over a year ago, and Iraqi 'justice' hasn't even seen fit to manufacture a 'confession' in that crime.


While talking about things we're not interested in, I'm not interested in wire reports that don't know their facts.  Two different wire services (I haven't seen AP do a story on it if that helps you eliminate one posssibility) are offering bogus information re: cholera.  I don't know if they're that stupid or they think we are.  But to note one bogus claim wire services are repeating, Iraq is not suffering it's first cholera outbreak in five years or nearly five years.  It's 2012.  Subtract five and you're left with 2007.  To make that lie work, you're going to have to vanish a great deal -- such as this 2009 AP report entitled "New Cholera Outbreak Hits Iraq" -- and five plus 2009 would be 2014.  Two years away.  Get your facts right.  And that's not only the year that disproves the claim but I was discussing this with a friend at AP this morning and told him I'd link to that article.  One cholera story we will note is this one run by the Oman Tribune which notes 4 deaths from cholera so far and another 272 confirmed cases.

On things we're not interested in, I can't believe I have to repeat this yet again but let's try one more time: I don't give a ___ about your efforts to re-elect or blow Barack Obama.  You will not use this website for your propaganda.  We went over this in 2008.  Stop sending me your garbage.  And you are trash for refusing to focus on real issues and instead wasting time on propaganda and spin.  Stop sending me that garbage.  If you're someone sending something important -- whoring for a political party is not important (though it is embarrassing) -- and it hasn't been noted yet blame the woman who won't stop sending the public account garbage over and over and over.  I heard about this from Martha and Shirley on Friday and I told them to just move it all into my folder and I'd go through it when I got a chance.  I'm only now going through all the messages this woman has sent, all the bad writing she wants noted.  She's embarrassing herself and she's clogging up the public account with nonsense.  There's stuff in here somewhere on Africa and Afghanistan that matters.  But to get to those e-mails, you have to scroll through all the crap that this one woman keeps sending.  I'm saying "one woman" right now.  Keep sending that crap and I'll get more specific here.

Yesterday, Human Rights Watch issued a call for Iraq and Turkey to open their borders to Syrian refugees:

 The Iraqi and Turkish authorities should immediately re-open border crossings where more than 10,000 Syrians have been stranded for weeks and allow all those wishing to seek asylum to cross without delay, Human Rights Watch said today. Tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing recent fighting – including in Syria’s Aleppo, Idlib, and Deir el Zor provinces – are attempting to use the crossings to reach Iraq and Turkey quickly and safely.

Since the second half of August 2012, Iraq and Turkey have unlawfully prevented thousands of Syrians from entering their countries through these crossing points. Each country has allowed only a limited number of people to cross, either based on medical emergencies or on arbitrary limits. Blocking people from crossing international borders to claim asylum – whether through formal or informal crossing points – breaches international law, Human Rights Watch said.

“Over 10,000 desperate Syrians fleeing the terror of aerial bombardment and shelling are stuck on the Iraqi and Turkish borders, many living in miserable conditions,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugees researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch. “Iraq and Turkey should keep their borders open at all times to people fleeing threats to their lives and other forms of persecution.”

On this week's Law and Disorder Radio,  an hour long program that airs Monday mornings at 9:00 a.m. EST on WBAI and around the country throughout the week, hosted by attorneys Heidi Boghosian, Michael S. Smith and Michael Ratner (Center for Constitutional Rights), Phyllis Bennis talks about the Afghanistan War and CODEPINK's Rae Abileah  talks about the Drone War.






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