Along with violence, the weekend brought additional bad news. Saturday, The Iraq Times reported
that cable channel Baghdadi was surrounded by the Iraqi military on
Friday and they forced everyone out and then shut the station down. They also noted that Nouri ordered the closure. The Iraq Times reported
that Iraqiya spokesperson Maysoon al-Damalouji declared that Nouri is
attempting to rebuild the Republic of Fear (a reference to the days of
Saddam Hussein) and decried the closing of Baghdadiya TV.
Today Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports
Nouri took to Facebook to insist that he closed Al Baghdadi as a result
of "financial irregularities." He maintains that there are fees for
transimission that were not paid. Nouri is said to have taken offense
at their coverage of his Russian arms deal and his handling of the
Central Bank. Earlier the Ministry of the Interior had attempted to
fall on the sword. Al Rafidayn reports
they issued a statement Saturday saying it was their decision and that
of the court's to close the station. Of course, Nouri is in charge of
the Ministry of the Interior. They have no minister because Nouri never
nominated anyone for Parliament to vote on.Today the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory issues a statement noting their deep concern over press freedom in Iraq and they call on Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi to open an investigation immediately into the closure of satellite channel and radio station Al Baghdadi. The press organization states that the Parliament is the body responsible for ensuring the future of democracy in Iraq and the future for freedom of expression. They see the closure of the satellite TV channel and radio station as another means to reduce the role of media in Iraq and to prevent the exposure of corrutpion. They decry the use of armed forces on the station and the forced departures of the employees from the building.
Al Mada reports the National Union of Iraqi Journalists is also protesting the closure and saying it represents a reduction of freedom of the press and liberty. Moqtada al-Sadr is a cleric and movement leader with a significant bloc in Parliament.
Nouri can't be trusted. He is not about fairness or building a better Iraq. For six years now, the world has watched as he has repeatedly cried "Oops!" when yet another secret prison he was running -- that specialized in torture -- was discovered. The illegal war against Iraq had a number of b.s. 'reasons' but the one they still try to clutch to their chests is that Saddam Hussein was 'bad' and 'mean' to his people. Nouri's secret prisons are 'good'?
Is it any reason that, as Kitabat notes, a new Gallup poll found that Iraqis (along with Armenians and Singaporeans) are at the bottom of the world's population when it comes to feeling happiness and positive?
Iraq is a failed state. Six years he's had to show some improvement in Iraq. Instead, he's accused of corruption with regards to skimming money and 'loans' for friends and his 'answer' is to fire the governor of the Central Bank of Iraq. News outlets report what takes place in Iraq and Nouri's answer is to send in the military and close them down. He's failed to provide basic public services. Since 2007, every year he's promised that the next year will find marked importovement in electricity. That's still not happened but the promise was made for 2013.
Empty promises and scare tactics is all Nouri's offered the people. When they've taken to the streets, he's sent the military in to attack them.
Currently, he's attempting to silence what's taking place in Iraq prisons, where women are being tortured and at least threatened with rape (there may be cases of rape -- if so, they have not yet come to life). The most appalling case may be the torture and threats against an 11-year-old girl. And after the expected shock over what has been done to her subsides, maybe someone can explain what the hell an 11-year-old girl was doing in an Iraqi prison to begin with?
Again, Nouri is better than Saddam how? He's Little Saddam and every day he gets worse. He's Little Saddam and the US government is responsible. In 2006, Nouri was installed as prime minister by the White House (then occupied by Bully Boy Bush). In 2010, when his State of Law came in second to Iraqiya, the White House (President Barack Obama) ignored the will of the voters, ignored democracy, ignored the Iraqi Constitution and insisted that Nouri get a second term (and circumvented everything by brokering a contract giving him a second term and when he refused to honor promises, the White House pretended their contract didn't exist).
The UN has finally grasped how dangerous Nouri is to the electoral process which is why they're now registering young voters. Why? Because Nouri's attempt to kill the food-rations program was stopped for now. Nouri may attempt it again. They're not waiting for Nouri to suddenly care about democracy. (The food-ration program exists around i.d. cards for the program, these cards have been used as voter identification in the elections Iraq has held since the start of the Iraq War.)
What's the US doing? The European Union is being very clear in their actions. They think the Iraqi people are at risk and they are upping the EU presence. The British? Their ambassador publicly, from Iraq, called out the treatment of Iraqi women.
And the US government just appeases the tyrant that they put in place, that they keep in place.
If he remains in power much longer, remember that Little Saddam's actions were telling years ago. But the US government chose to back him. They ignored his torture, they ignored his attacks on the press, they ignored his refusal to follow the Constitution, they ignored his corruption (while most Iraqis live in desperate conditions, he's enriched himself). They ignored it all.
Don't pretend the US government stands for all that is good and needed in the world, not when they repeatedly elect to install and stand by petty despots like Nouri.
It's over, I'm done writing songs about love
There's a war going on
So I'm holding my gun with a strap and a glove
And I'm writing a song about war
And it goes
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Oh oh oh oh
-- "I Hate The War" (written by Greg Goldberg, on The Ballet's Mattachine!)
The number of US service members the Dept of Defense states died in the Iraq War is [PDF format warning] 4488.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq
i hate the war
the ballet
