Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Car bombing slams Taji

Taji has been slammed by a bombing which has left many dead and many injured.  Adam Schreck (AP) reports 27 dead (and possibly a suicide bomber) and over forty injured.  The Frontier Post notes the suicide car bombing was "at the entrance to an Iraqi army base" where recruits were lining up.  AFP adds, "The explosion appears to have occurred as they left the base at lunchtime. But sources told the AFP news agency there had also been a recruitment event on Tuesday to welcome potential new soldiers. Such events have been targeted by militants in the past."  Jane Arraf (Al Jazeera) states, "Our police source said that the attack was a parked car bomb, and not a suicide blast."  Reuters notes that the death toll has risen,  "A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-filled car into soldiers outside an army base near Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 31 people and injuring tens more in one of the worst attacks this year on the country’s military."

That's what happened.  Why?  Well if karma counts, because idiots like Joel Wing think they can predict. And that might be fine if they presented it as a prediction but instead they present it as fact.  Yesterday Psychic Wing told you that the Islamic State of Iraq's Breaking The Walls campaign was over.

Did the Islamic State of Iraq issue such a statement?

Nope.

But Joel could just feel it.  Or maybe he was channeling the ghost of Saddam Hussein? 

Not only was he 'informing' that the campaign was over, he was 'informing' that it was basically what had been happening in Iraq already.  To 'prove' that hypothesis (presented as fact), Joel used some numbers.  Some numbers.  Not all.  He could have tried running ti back many years.  He didn't do that.  Which either indicates he was lazy or that his running the numbers for any real length of time wouldn't back up his prediction.

Maybe today Joel Wing will explain how yeseterday's laughable post is still 'accurate.'  Maybe this is the exception that proves the rule?  Or possibly he'll fall back on some other bromide?  Or maybe he can claim it was a different group?  I don't believe the Basque separatists have claimed responsibility for any attacks recently, possibly Joel could pin the attack on them?

Here's a thought: When a group announces that they are going to carry out a series of attacks and when they announce why, don't declare their campaign over because your belly rumbles.  Next time, grasp that you may just have gas.

All Iraq News reports that the goal of the bombing is thought to be to ignite strife.  Yeah, let's keep repeating that and all stay ignorant because it's worked so well so many times in Iraq and throughout the world, right?  Wrong.  July 22nd, the Islamic State of Iraq released an audio recording announcing a new campaign of violence entitled Breaking The Walls which would include prison breaks and killing "judges and investigators and their guards."  (They also threatened to attack America on US soil.) Their motives are know.  Their goal is not to ignite strife.  Their goal is to object to the government that they don't see as legitimate and that keeps arresting and targeting Sunnis.  There are many stupid statements today but "ignite strife" may be the stupidest of all.  We hear that and we're supposed to think, "Oh, that's why they do it.  They want 'strife'."  No, that's not why they do it.  There are revolutions, there are rebellions and there is resistance.  There's a great book on this by Eric Selbin, Zed Books' Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance: The Power of Story.  It is the latest in a huge -- but apparently ignored by many -- body of work.  This is political theory and as important in this field of study as The Laws of Plato.

Ignorance allows us to all be powerless together.  It doesn't allow us to solve any problems, it doesn't allow us to address any wrongs.

All Iraq News also notes that State of Law's Ibrahim Rikabi is stating that the bombing is linked to what's taken place with Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.  Though he is likely stating that to paint al-Hashemi in a poor light (and other Sunnis), there is some truth in the statement.  al-Hashemi is seen as part of the persecuted.  The fourth death sentence al-Hashemi's been handed may have impacted this but certainly the treatment of him and other Sunnis has outraged and angered a population that does not feel represented or included.


Al Mada notes that the family of Muhammad Misbah Wali, former governor of Basra, has again declared that Nouri al-Maliki was behind the assassination of Waili.  The family first made the charge last month.  They state today that Waili had discovered a secret intelligence cell being run by Nouri and that this was part of the reason he was targeted.  And remember, Nouri's made clear with his persecution of Tareq al-Hashemi that sitting officials can be dragged before the courts.  That means he can as well.  The family's planning to file suit.  Nouri may end up regretting his own refusal to follow the Constitution.  (Per the Constitution, al-Hashemi would have had to have finished serving his term, resigned or been stripped of his office to be tried.)


The following community sites -- plus The Diane Rehm Show, Antiwar.com, Adam Kokesh, Jane Fonda, Cindy Sheehan, On the Wilder Side, the Guardian, the New York Times and the Pacifica Evening News -- updated last night and this morning:





We'll close with this from Sherwood Ross' "Romney Could Win Florida Early Voting In Miami Shows" (Scoop):

 A survey of voters who cast early ballots in the Miami area of Florida suggests that Republican Mitt Romney may win this key “swing state” in the Nov. 6th election. Four years ago, Floridians helped elect Obama.
Where four years ago 67 of the 100 Miami early voters I interviewed as they came out of the polls told me  they favored Obama, over the past several days at the same polling place, only 54 of 100 voters said they favored Obama. This is a significant drop in Obama’s strength. Traditionally, Democrats must come out of South Florida with a commanding margin in order to win the state’s 29 electoral votes.
The decline in voter enthusiasm for Obama was visible. In a page one story in today’s New York Times, the reduced size of Obama’s crowds and their enthusiasm was also mentioned.
Democrats traditionally do well in the big cities of Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa while the Republicans do best in the northern, central, and western parts of the state that are largely rural and agricultural, plus metropolitan Jacksonville, in the northeast.  
In 2008, Obama got 4,282,000 votes in Florida compared to Republican John McCain’s 4,045,000, or 50.9% compared to 48.1%.  So Obama got all the State’s 27 electoral votes. Because Florida’s population has gone up, this year the state has 29 electoral votes. Only California, with 55, and Texas, with 38, have more electoral votes than Florida today.
I found Obama’s support significantly reduced this year compared to 2008. In that election this reporter found seven Republican voters who were switching to the Democrats but this week there were more Democratic voters switching to Romney than the other way around. Four of the switching voters interviewed had voted for Obama in 2008 but switched to Romney, compared with just two Republican voters in 2008 who switched to Obama in this election. Several voters who switched from Obama told me they blamed him for the condition of the economy.
The polling place where I interviewed voters coming out of the polls was located in the public library of the well-to-do suburb of Coral Gables, just west of Miami. The city contains many fine mansions, an upscale shopping center, and the University of Miami, a private university whose students come largely from affluent families around the country,  Latin America, and Asia..







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