Saturday, November 24, 2012

The standoff continues

As what little of the international press attention that goes to Iraq focusing on the latest political crisis Nouri's ignited, the failed Russian arms deal is largely forgotten.  Weeks ago, Nouri traveled with a delegation to Russia and, while there, signed a $4.2 billion weapons deal.  The deal was a surprise and it involved so much money that it garnered huge press.  Russia took bows on the world stage as did Nouri.  And then Nouri went back to Iraq . . .

and announced the deal was off.

Long before he made that announcement, there was calls for him to appear before the Parliament to explain the deal.  There were accusations of corruption and graft.  These accusations have not vanished.  Ali al-Dabbagh, Nouri's spokesperson until this week, felt the need to publicly announce this week that he was not part of the deal.  All Iraq News reports that Nouri's son is now accused of being part of the alleged corruption.  Ahmed al-Maliki has long been accused of benefitting from nepotism but now the Sadr bloc has accused him of being in on the corruption.  And despite Ali al-Dabbagh's public disavowal of being involved in the arms deal, the report notes that he continues to be linked to it.

Still on the Iraqi Parliament, All Iraq News reports the Women, Family and Children's Committee is calling for the Ministry of Justice to make prisons and detention centers open to legislative committees so they can see what the conditions are.  In addition, All Iraq News notes MP Safia al-Suhail is calling on the Ministry of Women to focus on eliminating violence against women in prison.

Onto the latest political crisis Nouri has instigated.  Having refused to honor the Constitution he took an oath to uphold, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has refused, since 2006, to implement Article 140 which outlines how to resolve disputed territories.  While refusing to follow the Constitution, Nouri decided to utilize the Iraqi military.  Tigris Operation Command has been sent into disputed areas in the north.  What you have is a stand off between the Tigris forces and the Kurdish forces.

And because he can't stop trying to destroy Iraq?  Kitabat reports that Nouri issued a directive (in writing, dated November 22nd) that no vehicles with Kurdish registration plates may enter Baghdad.


Meanwhile Isabel Coles and Paul Simao (Reuters) report, "Iraq's Kurdish region has sent reinforcements to a disputed area where its troops are involved in a standoff with the Iraqi army, a senior Kurdish military official said, despite calls on both sides for dialogue to calm the situation."  The standoff has led many to attempt to mediate.  Alsumaria quotes Kurdistan Alliance MP Mahmoud Othman declaring today that the shaky truce is at risk of falling appart.

 AFP notes, "Iraqi parliament speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi said Saturday that 'significant progress' has been made on resolving an Arab-Kurd crisis and a meeting on the issue will be held in Baghdad next week. Nujaifi has been pushing to resolve a crisis between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq that he has warned could lead to civil war."  Speaker Osama al-Nuajifi traveled to Erbil and spoke with Kurdistan Regional President Massoudd Barzani on Wednesday and returned to Baghdad to speak with Nouri al-Maliki Thursday evening.  But that was November 22nd.  And while al-Nujaifi wants to believe that an understanding was reached in his mediation, the reality is that Nouri decreed no Kurdish officials could leave the country without his permission and that no Kurdish vehicles could enter Baghdad.  That's not an improvement, that's not even a slight de-escalation.

Moqtata al-Sadr has offered to host a working lunch with Barzani and Nouri.  All Iraq News notes that Barzani has responded in a statement thanking al-Sadr for the "gracious invitation" but declaring that the problem is about disagreements, not about personalities.  Alsumaria adds that the statement also notes Barzani is more than happy to meet with Moqtada al-Sadr at any time.  Kitabat reports al-Nujaifi is asserting that he has just received confirmation from both Nouri and Barzani that they will sit down with him for a meet-up.

While the US government uses their diplomats to do the bidding of Nouri and convince the Kurds to go along with whatever Nouri wants, Alsumaria reports Turkish Foriegn Ministry spokesperson Selcuk Unal has called on Nouri to drop the delusions and stop moving Iraq closer to violence.  Hurriyet covers the statement as well, "Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is living in a fantasy world, Ankara has implied amid high tension between Iraq and Turkey that has been escalated by tit-for-tat statements from both sides."


The following commmunity sites -- plus Cindy Sheehan, Antiwar.com, Jody Watley and Adam Kokesh-- updated yesterday and today:



The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.





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I Hate The War

"Discipline, Not Democracy, for Afghanistan and Iraq" is the title of a piece at TruthDig's Ear To The Ground.  It's a testament to ignorance and the problem with using uniformed sources like Glenn Greenwald.

We'll ignore Afghanistan and focus on Iraq.  They're finally discovering Ali Musa Daqduq.  And they're idiots because their understanding is a column Glenn wrote earlier this week.  Glenn's the human equivalent of a colander -- only a lot more than pasta water flows out of Glenn's sense of 'understanding.'  For months here, we've called out the US stomping their feet over Ali Musa Daqduq being found innocent by Iraqi courts.  We've noted that the US shouldn't have turned him over if they believed him to be guilty.  He was in US military custody from 2007 through December 2011.  If the US felt there was sufficent evidence, they should have tried him.

And this isn't a suggestion that was made after the fact.  Unlike Glenn Greenwald, we were covering this in 2011.  We ran pretty much every House Representative and every Senator's public statement calling for the White House to try Ali Mussa Daqduq.

Glenn ignores all of that so that when Truthdig simplifies the already simplified even more is left out.

Presumably Truthdig would argue -- if the knew of it -- that the White House received a promise from Nouri.  There was a promise made in December prior to the hand off.  One would expect it to have been a strong assurance that Daqduq would be found guilty because of the White House's confidence in that promise.

In the spring, when Daqduq was found not guilty by an Iraqi court, we noted the White House was wrong to call for the verdict to be reviewed (it did get reviewed, it was found to be correct by the Iraqi courts) and that, having been found innocent,  Daqduq was free to go, that to argue otherwise was to undermine a fledging legal system.

In just the above, you can see that we covered the issue in more detail than the simplistic Glenn Greenwald ever did.

Glenn's one of those men who always to try to prove how masculine he is and, sadly, for him that takes the form of hatred of women.  So he works in his little Hillary-is-a-hypocrite implication at the start (no doubt that's why Truthdig grabbed at it) but missed the entire issue.

Because he is beyond stupid.  Not only has he been one of the worst popularizers of sexism on the dissent side but he's time and again revealed that he knows practically nothing.

Glenn wants to play is ha-ha hypocrisy card that really just demonstrates how juvenile his mind is.  He goes with is 'terrorism' and is it a 'terrorist'?  The attackers stormed onto an Iraqi base in Iraqi forces uniforms.  They kidnapped and killed 5 American soldiers, they also wounded Iraqi forces.  Daqduq is not an Iraqi so he's a 'foreigner' too -- a term Glenny wants to apply to the Americans but not to Daqduq.

But the thing is, Glenn's a ______________ ignorant asshole.

Daqduq didn't act alone.

That's what Glenny won't tell people.

The ridiculous Glenn-Glenn.

Like a bad Ed Wood film, Glenn's forever distorting reality and fooling the easily misled.

The Leauge of Righeous was working with Daqduq.

If you want to call the US government hypocrites, you note that the White House is whining over the release of Daqduq but that the White House released the leaders of the League of Righteous from US military prisons in the summer of 2009.  You also note that the White House sat down with the spokersperon for the League of Righteous and negotiated a swap -- the White House sat down with a terrorist organization and made a deal to release the killers of 5 Americans.

If you don't know that story, chances are you've been reading Glenn Greenwald who can always find a way to misinform because puny minds can't hold too many details.


We covered this all last week.  We returned to the topic again on Monday.  Glenn's crap went up on Tuesday.  There was more than enough time for him to learn the details but learning is hard for Glenn so he goes simplistic and Truthdig puts it into the echo chamber. 

From Monday's snapshot:
It was supposed to be so easy for Barack Obama.  He squeaked by earlier this month, just winning the popular vote in the race for US president.  Re-election was one thing but having opponents -- Republican, Green, Libertarian, Constitutional, Socialist Equality Party, etc -- who refused to call him out for negotiating with terrorists was even better.  Now it appears the British press may force the American press to do the job they should have done on their own.  Colin Freeman (Telegraph of London) observed Saturday:
 
 
If a prisoner exchange was done, though, it was a high price to pay, particularly for the Americans, who believed that Khazali brothers's militant group, the League of the Righteous, was involved in the Kerbala attack. Not long after Moore and Qais al Khazali were released, I spoke to Vanessa Chism, the stepmother of one of the murdered soldiers, Specialist Johnathan Bryan Chism. While she didn't object to a prisoner swap in principle, she lamented the prospect of not getting justice for her stepson.
"We were informed that this was going to happen, and while personally we would like the people who did this to our child to be punished, they will have to live with what they did," she said. "But if some good came out of it, by the release of that British man, then I am fine with that."
It wasn't just Westerners, though, who lost their chance for a day in court. The League is also believed to have been behind the abduction of 30 Iraqi Red Crescent workers in Baghdad in 2006, most of whose fate remains unknown. When I was last in Baghdad, the family of one of the workers told me that they felt that they too should have been consulted over any prisoner swap. They argued that as part of any deal, the League should have been made to hand over some of its Iraqi hostages as well as Mr Moore – or at least say where the bodies lay.
 
 
Iraq's homegrown League of Righteous with the help of Lebanese terrorist Ali Musa Daqduq are believed by the US government to have been behind the murders of 5 US soldiers.


The White House has never had to explain why they negotiated with a terrorist group, let alone why they released it's leader, it's leader's brother and other high ranking members.  No one went to the American people and said, "Look we have the killers of the 5 Americans in custody.  But there are four dead British security guards and one IT hostage we think is alive.  We're thinking of releasing these terrorists, in fact, we're in talks with them, so that the corpses and maybe the one hostage can be released.  Does that sound like justice?  Because that's what we want to do."

It's that crap that has so many in the military and who are veterans feeling betrayed by the White House.  And don't get them started on the press that has refused to press on this issue.  The official US public position is: We do not negotiate with terrorists.  Yet Barack did just that.  Not because some mythical bomb would go off in 24 hours.  Not because the League of Righteous was a threat to the American people. Dropping back to July 9, 2011 when the League told Barack the deal was off:
 
Al Mada reports they have issued a statement where they savage the US government for not honoring -- and quickly honoring -- the agreement made with them. As a result, they say Alan McMenemy will not be released.
Peter Moore, the only one released alive, was a computer tech working in Iraq. Four British bodyguards were protecting him. The bodyguards were McMenemy, Jason Swindlehurst, Alec MacLachlan and Jason Cresswell. The families of the four have continued to publicly request that Alan McMenemy be released.
They [Leauge of Righteous] condemn the "procrastionation" of the US government after the deal was made and state that a promise was also broken when "US forces did not stop attacks" -- apparently Barack made very grand promises -- so now Alan McMenemy will not be released. The statement is credited to Akram al-Ka'bi.
What the statement really does is demonstrate what many condemned in 2009: The US government, the administration, entered into an agreement that did not benefit the US or Iraq. They freed known killers from prison. Killers of Iraqis, killers of American citizens. There was nothing to be gained by that act for Iraq or the US. At some point, history will ask how Barack Obama thought he was fulfilling his duties of commander in chief by making such an ignorant move?
 
Alan McMenemy's corpse was finally released and sent back to England where his loved one could hold a proper funeral for him.

Barack has never had to answer for the deal he made with the League of Righteous.  Outside of military and veterans circles, the issue is never raised when we speak.  College students we speak to usually don't know about it.  Not because they're uninformed but because the press has really refused to cover this story.  From the June 9, 2009 snapshot:

This morning the New York Times' Alissa J. Rubin and Michael Gordon offered "U.S. Frees Suspect in Killing of 5 G.I.'s." Martin Chulov (Guardian) covered the same story, Kim Gamel (AP) reported on it, BBC offered "Kidnap hope after Shia's handover" and Deborah Haynes contributed "Hope for British hostages in Iraq after release of Shia militant" (Times of London). The basics of the story are this. 5 British citizens have been hostages since May 29, 2007. The US military had in their custody Laith al-Khazali. He is a member of Asa'ib al-Haq. He is also accused of murdering five US troops. The US military released him and allegedly did so because his organization was not going to release any of the five British hostages until he was released. This is a big story and the US military is attempting to state this is just diplomacy, has nothing to do with the British hostages and, besides, they just released him to Iraq. Sami al-askari told the New York Times, "This is a very sensitive topic because you know the position that the Iraqi government, the U.S. and British governments, and all the governments do not accept the idea of exchanging hostages for prisoners. So we put it in another format, and we told them that if they want to participate in the political process they cannot do so while they are holding hostages. And we mentioned to the American side that they cannot join the political process and release their hostages while their leaders are behind bars or imprisoned." In other words, a prisoner was traded for hostages and they attempted to not only make the trade but to lie to people about it. At the US State Dept, the tired and bored reporters were unable to even broach the subject. Poor declawed tabbies. Pentagon reporters did press the issue and got the standard line from the department's spokesperson, Bryan Whitman, that the US handed the prisoner to Iraq, the US didn't hand him over to any organization -- terrorist or otherwise. What Iraq did, Whitman wanted the press to know, was what Iraq did. A complete lie that really insults the intelligence of the American people. CNN reminds the five US soldiers killed "were: 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 are the five from January 2007 that al-Khazali and his brother Qais al-Khazali are supposed to be responsible for the deaths of. Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Robert H. Reid (AP) states that Jonathan B. Chism's father Danny Chism is outraged over the release and has declared, "They freed them? The American military did? Somebody needs to answer for it."
 


After Barack made the deal with the League of Righteous (and after they mocked him publicly and repeatedly in the Iraqi press after they were released), the US still had Ali Musa Daqduq in custody.

And many senators were calling for Daqduq to be brought to the United States and tried.  Instead, in 2011, the White House turned him over to Iraq and received 'promises' regarding Daqduq's fate.

'Promises" turned out not be all that.  As noted in Friday's snapshot, " Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) reports that the rumors Ali Musa Daqduq had been released from Iraqi custody are true (see Wednesday's snapshot).  It's a huge embarrassment for the White House.  Victoria Nuland, State Dept spokesperson, was asked about it in today's press briefing."  Michael R. Gordon (New York Times) reported Friday:

In a phone call on Tuesday, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. told the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, that the United States believed that Mr. Daqduq should be held accountable for his actions and that Iraq should explore all legal options toward this end, an American official said. Robert S. Beecroft, the United States ambassador in Baghdad, made a similar appeal to Mr. Maliki that day. But Mr. Maliki told Mr. Biden that Iraq had run out of legal options to hold Mr. Daqduq, who this year had been ordered released by an Iraqi court.

Susan Crabtree (Washington Times) notes of that phone conversation between Joe Biden and Nouri al-Maliki, "The Whie House previously released a read-out of Mr. Biden's call with Mr. al-Mliki Tuesday that contained no mention of Mr. Daqduq." 
 
 
And  that's the reality.  So much more than the stupidity that Glenn Greenwald offered and Truthdig amplified.  If the White House is upset that no one's being punished for the deaths of 5 Americans than I think you can argue that the White House is to blame because they had all of them in custody.  Today they want to whine about Daqduq.  They never want to get honest about negotiating with terrorists.

And someone explain to little Glenn that Peter Moore was a computer technician who was kidanpped by the League and Daqduq because of that.  Someone explain that to him, slap him upside the head with some truth maybe, and then he can understand how people end up labeled terrorists?  Maybe not.   He's not all that smart.








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.











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Friday, November 23, 2012

Iraq snapshot

Friday, November 23, 2012.  Chaos and violence continues in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani wades into the latest crisis, Iraq increases crude oil exports by 1.1%,  some in Iraq's special needs community participate in a hunger strike, Iraqi women face increased harassment from fundamentalists, David Lawly-Wakelin weighs in on protesting Tony Blair, and more.
 
 
 
 
Last week at Highgate Magistrates' Court, in answer to my interrupting Tony Blair whilst he was giving evidence at the Leveson Inquiry, I was found guilty of causing him 'harassment, alarm or distress', and ordered to pay a £100 fine plus £250 costs.
The Leveson Inquiry was set up specifically to look into the lies and deceit of others. Some might just scream double hypocrisy when one also considers the harassment, alarm or distress caused to the families of well over half a million lives lost as the John Hopkins Bloomberg school of public health estimated (654,965 up until 2006) let alone the harassment alarm or distress to those families still giving birth to deformed babies in Fallujah.
As a nation, just as with Hillsborough, we are being asked to turn a blind eye to what millions of us believe - that former prime minister Tony Blair, in a conspiracy with George W. Bush, deceived us into a corrupt and illegal Iraq war that took the lives of well over half a million people. Since he has left office it's been reported that he has accumulated well over £60million on the back of his lies.
Knowing that Iraq was crippled from 10 years of sanctions, George W. Bush and Tony Blair believed the war would be over in months. No one would then care or notice, five years later, the business deals that would follow.
 
Last Friday, Oliver Laughland and Emine Saner (Guardian) reported that Lawley-Wakelin was found guilty by the court and ordered to pay 250 British pounds in court costs and another 100 pounds as a fine.  They quote him stating, For me to have been found guilty of causing Tony Blair harassment, alarm or distress, for calling him a war criminal while he is giving evidence in an inquiry that is looking into the lies and deceits of others is the greatest hypocrisy I've heard in a very long time."  From the May 29th snapshot:
 
Samira Shackle (New Statesman) reported that while Tony Blair gave testimony a the Royal Courts of Justice, he was shouted down with a cry of, "This man should be arrested for War Crimes!"  Tom Chivers (Telegraph of London) identifies the truth-teller as David Lawley-Wakelin who made the documentary Alternative Iraq Enquiry. Sam Lister, Rosa Silverman and Brian Farmer (Independent of London) report that Lawley-Wakelin shouted, "This man should be arrested for War Crimes.  JP Morgan paid him off for the Iraq War.  Three months after he invaded Iraq they held upt he Iraq bank for 20 billion.  He was then paid six million dollars every year and still is from JP Morgan six month after he left office.  This man is a War Criminal!" As Connor Simpson's piece for The Atlantic noted, "Tony Blair Can't Escape the Iraq War."
 
Suzannah Hills (Daily Mail) reports that Lawley-Wakelin appeared on James O'Brien's LBC radio program today You go through the metal detectors, any member of the public can actually go in, and I tried to get in through the front entrance of the Leveson inquiry but was evicted as I don't have any press accreditation. But I figured out there must be a back way in as Lord Leveson himself must have one.  When I got there I was surprised to find out that there was no security at all and in fact the door to the court was wide open in the same way that Lord Leveson himself would have got in there."  The Telgraph of London quotes Leveson telling the inquiry today, "Yesterday morning a man by the name of David Lawley-Wakelin interrupted and disrupted the proceedings of this Inquiry for purposes of his own.  I directed that an inquiry should take place and it has now been completed.  Appropriate measures to prevent any risk of repetition have been taken."  Lawley-Wakelin appeared on Press TV (link is video and transcript) today and was asked if War Criminal Blair would ever appear before the Hague?
 
Lawley-Wakelin: You know, whether he ever gets to court that's another thing.  Taking on the American government, Bush and Blair and the British government it's just an enormous thing.  There are lots of websites where you can join petitions to get Blair indicated for war crimes and perhaps one day we can hope that he will be taken down to the Hague but it's a long road and we can only hope that it will happen.  There is plenty of evidence to point towards it.  The sad thing is that the Chilcot Inquiry [so named after its chairman Sir John Chilcot] over here in England which is known as the Iraq Inquiry won't be looking into any criminal activity, they'll only be making inquiry into what went wrong in the decision-making by the politicians and the government and putting guidelines towards that but they won't be looking at all the money that washed around at the time and that Blair is still making.
 
 
 
War Ciminal Tony Blair is not forgotten in England where the former prime minister remains at large and is wanted for citizens arrests as noted at Arrest Blair.  Blair, Bully Boy Bush, Gordon Brown and Barack Obama have all overseen the illegal war on Iraq.  They are all responsible for the state of Iraq today but it's apparently too gruesome for any of them to look straight-on.
 
So don't look at me sideways
Don't even look me straight on
And don't look at my hands in my pockets, baby,
I ain't done anything wrong
-- "Never Said Nothing," written by Liz Phair, first appears on Phair's Exile in Guyville
 
 

In Iraq, the political crisis on top of the political crisis continues.  And it dwarfs the original one.  Earlier this week,  Rami Ruhayem (BBC News) described the origins of the first political crisis this way:
 

Straight after the withdrawal of US troops at the end of last year, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi, the most senior Sunni politician in Iraq.

He was accused of running death squads, tried in absentia, and sentenced to death.
And Mr [Nouri al-]Maliki has kept both the defence and interior ministries under his control, refusing to hand them over to his partners within the government.
 
That was alarming and had led to calls for a National Conference to resolve it -- calls by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi.  But Nouri's created yet another crisis and it's so huge even some who normally stay out of the political process are wading in to try to resolve the issues.  Kitabat notes things are so fraught that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has had to weigh in to try to resolve the situation.  The Grand Ayatollah is calling for the Constitution to be followed with regards to the conflict.          All Iraq News notes that Sheikh Abdul Mahdi al-Karabalai has joined the Grand Ayatollah's call.
 
 
Along with the clergy, others are alarmed as well.  Hurriyet reports:
 
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan warned about a sectarian and ethnic-based civil war in Iraq on Nov. 22 and pointed to energy wars as the main motivation behind it. The next day, Iraq's Shiite-origin Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, sent a strong "Not if you trigger it" reply to Erdoğan, only to be snubbed as "delusional" by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Almost simultaneously, al-Maliki released a photo showing the deployment of Iraqi troops to Tuzhurmatu in order to face Kurds piling up along the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) borders, despite still being part of Iraq on paper.
It is surely about energy resources. There are still untapped oil and natural gas beds in the KRG territory, for which the energy giants of the world - from Exxon and Chevron of the United States to Total of France and Gazprom of Russia (Turkish companies too) - have sealed deals with the KRG President Massoud Barzani in Arbil. Despite the strong protests of al-Maliki in Baghdad and disapproving lip service from Washington, D.C., they are not taking any steps back. Al-Maliki knows that if Kurds manage to sell their oil and gas via NATO member Turkey without interference from Arabs, Russians and Iranians, that would mean a de-facto change in Iraqi borders and sovereignty, if not de jure.
 
Nouri had his own response, he publicly stated that the conflict in Syria could take over Turkey, implying that the Turkish government should focus on that and not speak of Iraq.  UPI notes the response of the Turkish government, "Turkish officials labeled delusional statements by Iraqi [Prime Minister] Nouri al-Maliki warning sectarian violence in Syria could engulf Turkey.  Roy Gutman (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Nouri's response also hinted that Erdogan would soon be ousted in Turkey.  Nouri declared, "Erdogan should focus his attention on addressing Turkey's domestic issues, which raise our concern, as Turkey heads toward civil war.  [. . .]  Turkish people are looking forward to changing the political situation to protect Turkey from worsening domestic and foreign problems."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/23/3931699/turkey-iraq-exchange-sharp-rhetoric.html#storylink=cpy
 
 
The crisis results from Nouri sending forces into the disputed areas after years of refusing to implement Article 140 of the Constitution (which states that disputed areas will be resolved via census and referendum).  The Kurds see this is as an attempt by Nouri to seize the areas and claim them for the Baghdad-based area.  Realizing too late that Barack Obama's for-show trip to Asia was a mistake, the White House is scrambling to get more face-to-face diplomats into Iraq.  (The trip was a joke and Barack made a fool of himself.  Americans didn't give a damn about the visit, his reception on the trip was lukewarm and Hillary Clinton seized all the news interest with her trip to the MidEast leaving Barack looking like a glorified extra on the world stage.)  Reuters adds:,  "Washington intervened to end a similar standoff in August and is now again in contact with Iraqi and Kurdish officials to ease tension mounting over the formation of a new command center for Iraqi forces to operate in the disputed areas."  Iran's Trend News Agency notes that Iraq's Col Dhia al-Wakeel is alleging that "Kurdish forces, backed by rocket launchers and artillery, reinforced troops already in the cities of Khaniqeen and Kirkuk on Thursday."
 
 

Iraqi politicians are attempting to resolve the issue as well.  Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi visited with KRG President Massoud Barzani Wednesday and returned to Bahgdad yesterday to meet with Nouri al-Maliki.  All Iraq News notes that they met late yesterday evening and that a statement issued by al-Nuajaif called the meeting productive.

Bit by bit, all of the political blocs are getting into the process.All Iraq News notes that the National Alliance leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari is preparing a paper on the issue.  Alsumaria notes that Kurdistan Alliance MP Mahmoud Othman is calling for Nouri al-Maliki and Massoud Barzani to sit down together (this echoes Moqtada al-Sadr's call for a working lunch between the two to be hosted by Moqtada).Kitabat reports that sources are stating Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and KRG President Massoud Barzani are discussing the option of withdrawing confidence from Nouri. Dar Addustour reports that Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi traveled to Erbil yesterday to meet with Talabani and Barzani to discuss this issue.  All Iraq News says that Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Sadr bloc, has given the green light for such talks.  
 
Rebwar Karim Wali (Rudaw) offers his opinions on the political situation:
 

The Shia will stand by him, and the Sunnis will too since most of his officers are former Baathist Sunnis.

Then, he thinks, if everything goes according to plan, he will turn on the Kurdistan Region and what the Kurds have achieved so far. Maliki wants to show the Kurds that Kurdistan is part of Iraq, and he does not conceal this sentiment.

At this time, Kurds and their political groups have reached a unanimous conclusion that this is Maliki's intention. In the meantime, they have admitted that they lack a united voice.

However, when the Dijla Operations Command deployed, the leader of the Change Movement (Gorran) -- who had previously sided with keeping Maliki in his seat -- went to Kirkuk and vehemently rejected the actions of the forces.

Judging from the tone of its media, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is waging a full war against Maliki. The party's secretary general, Jalal Talabani, concurs with President Barzani that Maliki is a threat to both Iraq and Kurdistan.

Territories defined as "disputed" through constitutional Article 140 include 43 percent of Kurdish land. According to international laws, when an area is considered disputed, no one side has the right to make decisions about it unilaterally. If the two sides do not trust each other, then a third force -- often an international one -- comes to mediate.


 
 
Yesterday,  Al Mada reported Nouri' had announced that KRG officials may not leave Iraq without the permission of the federal government (his permission).  Kitabat picks up the story about Nouri al-Maliki declaring that Kuridstan officials could not leave the country without the federal government/s permission -- that would be Nouri's permission.  It is intended to be an inflammatory insult.  It has no teeth.  Not unlike when Nouri was screeching that the KRG had to hand over Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and they didn't have to do that and they didn't do that.  They will continue to do as they want.  They share a border with Turkey which doesn't take orders from Nouri.  Hurriyet Daily News notes:


The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement on its website today calling for the Iraqi government to "not make imaginary assumptions about the expectations of the Turkish public, but to listen to advice instead," according to daily Hurriyet. 
The statement was released Nov. 23 in response to a statement issued by the Iraqi Prime Ministry several days before that accused Turkey of "meddling with regional problems." 
 
 
In other news, the Telegram reports that Iraq's crude oil exports for October increased by 1.1%. According to the World Bank, Iraq's GDP for 2010 was $82.15 billion.  And yet even with increased crude oil output, Azzaman reports, "Iraq imports 70% of its needs from foreign countries, especially neighboring states, said the head of the Iraqi Chamber of Commerce Jaafar al-Hamadani."  That's the reality of Nouri's Iraq where demonstrations have not vanished. Al Mada reports that yesterday, for the third day in a row, special needs persons staged a strike outside the Kurdistan Parliament in Sulaimaniya.   They are staging a hunger strike, spokesperson Iara Mohammed explained, that the money allocated to those with special needs does not meet the most basic needs.  Azzaman notes, "The wars Iraq has gone through in the last three decades have produced a nation of disabled people -- six million out of a population of 30 millions."  Najaf alone has at least 120,000 people who are challenged or have special needs.  Meanwhile, a strike is threatened in Babylon.  Al Mada reports that teachers in Babylon are considering going on strike for, among other reasons, a lack of protection and accountability.  A school headmaster was killed and Wednesday saw demonstrations over it.  It is not felt that the death is being taken seriously or being investigated as needed.
 
 
In Iraq, Parliament's Human Rights Commission announced earlier this week that they will begin making prison inspections due to the increased reports of women being abused and treated poorly in prison, Al Mada reports.  The announcement led the Ministry of Justice to announce mid-week that they are responsible for prison interrogations.  And outside of prison?  Hanaa Edwar states, "Day after day, I am seeing more indicators that there is discrimination against women who choose not to wear hijab in Iraq."  Dina al-Shibeeb (Al Arabiya) speaks with Hanaa Edwar who founded the Iraqi Women's Network and is the General Secretary of Iraqi al-Amal Association:

Edwar, also founder of Iraqi Women's Network, sounded the alarm about attempts to force women to wear the hijab, especially in government offices.
Head of Iraq's Ministry of Women, Ibtihal Kasid al-Zubaidi, ordered in January that women working in government offices dress "modestly." Zubaidi axed tight pants, short skirts and colorful clothes.
Zubaidi, who segregated genders in her ministry, was lambasted as "anti-female" and her ministry described as an "anti-women ministry."
Edwar's Iraqi Women Network, made up of 18 civil society organizations, protested against Zubaidi's policy, describing it as seeking to curb women's civil liberties.
More women are approaching Edwar to file their complaints about government institutions and even TV channels belonging to religious political which enforce strict dress code and gender segregation.

Hanaa Edwar also decries the increase in temporary marriages in Iraq.  Kelly McEvers (NPR's  All Things Considered -- link is audio and text) reported on temporary marriages in October of 2010 with Robert Siegel observing in the introduction that the practice is popular in Iraq but had not been in Iraq where it was banned by Saddam Hussein.  After the US invaded Iraq in 2003, things changed.  Excerpt:
 
 
KELLY MCEVERS: This woman is so ashamed about what happened to her, she doesn't want to give her name. A mother of three, she says her husband abandoned her when she found out he preferred men. She had no way to support the family.

Unidentified Woman: (Foreign language spoken) 

MCEVERS: A religious figure in her neighborhood promised to help. He brought her to his home, locked the door and had sex with her. He offered her $15.
For the man at least, it was a brief moment of muta'a, the Arabic word for pleasure and the Arabic word for temporary marriage.

Unidentified Woman: (Foreign language spoken)

MCEVERS: The woman says the man who had sex with her worked with leading Shiite religious clerics in the Iraqi City of Najaf. It's one of the most revered places in Shiite Islam.
We're standing on a main street in the Holy City of Najaf. Just down some of these smaller streets are the offices of the Marjah. That's the four top clergymen for the Shiite community in all of Iraq.
 
Al Mada notes that Parliament's Integrity Commission disputes their ranking by Transparency International on the corruption index.  Today is the International Day to End Impunity.  Transparency International explains:


Friday, 23 November marks the International Day to End Impunity. At Transparency International we view impunity as getting away with bending the law, beating the system or escaping punishment. Impunity is anathema to the fight against corruption.
Earlier this month, activists, businesspeople, politicians, public officials, journalists, academics, youth and citizens who convened at the 15th International Anti-Corruption Conference in Brazil made it clear that transparency alone is not enough but must be accompanied by prosecution and punishment.
In a joint declaration, the gathering of 1,900 representatives from 140 countries called on political, business and community leaders everywhere "to embrace not only transparency in public life but a culture of transparency leading to a participatory society in which leaders are accountable."
"We are watching those who act with impunity and we will not let them get away with it," said the declaration, adopted in Brasília on 10 November.
The International Day to End Impunity is organized by IFEX, a global network that defends and promotes free expression. Events in more than 14 countries raise public awareness about what creates and sustains a culture of impunity. Transparency International supports the goals of protecting journalists and others engaged in the vitally important work of exposing corruption.
Dictionary definition of impunity im·pu·ni·ty  [im-pyoo-ni-tee]
noun
1. exemption from punishment.
2. immunity from detrimental effects, as of an action.
Many of Transparency International's some 100 national chapters are involved in initiatives that work toward ending impunity for corruption in their country, including helping in the detection of corruption, facilitating access to the judiciary, strengthening the judiciary's independence and capacity, or by analysing and monitoring how corruption cases are being judged.
TI's Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALACs) offer the opportunity for citizens to pursue complaints about corruption. ALACs also play an instrumental role in identifying corruption hotspots that demand reform or official action. These centres are already functioning in more than 50 countries.
Our Rwandan ALAC pursued a case of land grabbing involving a mining cooperative president who sought to renew the mine's certificate under his name. With the help of the ALAC, an investigation was launched with the Public Prosecutor Authority; after being taken to court the cooperative president's was sentenced to 10 years in jail and fined nearly US$3,500.
Many TI chapters have conducted election monitoring, including in Serbia, Bahrain and the Dominican Republic. In Venezuela, our chapter is part of an initiative, Alerta Electoral, which monitors electoral irregularities including potential misuse of taxpayer money by political candidates.
Several TI chapters are also working to improve whistleblower protections by advocating for strong legislation and assisting whistleblowers. These include chapters in Hungary, Lebanon and Zambia.
Our chapter in Ireland has established "Speak Up", a free, secure helpline and online system for employees considering reporting wrongdoing. The Ireland chapter is also campaigning for the passage of a national whistleblower law that would cover all employees.
The need to fight impunity was also stressed at the closing session of the 15th International Anti-Corruption Conference, which called for the promotion of a culture of transparency leading to a participatory society in which leaders are held accountable.
Transparency International believes that 'impunity undermines integrity everywhere' and is proud to participate on 23 November along with citizens who are fighting to end impunity for corruption and other crimes.

Press contact(s):

Chris Sanders
Manager, Media and Public Relations
press@transparency.org
+49 30 3438 20 666

 
 
 
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The powder keg Iraq

In Iraq, the political crisis on top of the political crisis continues.  Kitabat notes things are so fraught that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has had to weigh in to try to resolve the situation.  The Grand Ayatollah is calling for the Constitution to be followed with regards to the conflict.  All Iraq News notes that Sheikh Abdul Mahdi al-Karabalai has joined the Grand Ayatollah's call.


The crisis results from Nouri sending forces into the disputed areas after years of refusing to implement Article 140 of the Constitution (which states that disputed areas will be resolved via census and referendum).  The Kurds see this is as an attempt by Nouri to seize the areas and claim them for the Baghdad-based area.  Realizing too late that Barack Obama's for-show trip to Asia was a mistake, the White House is scrambling to get more face-to-face diplomats into Iraq.  (The trip was a joke and Barack made a fool of himself.  Americans didn't give a damn about the visit, his reception on the trip was lukewarm and Hillary Clinton seized all the news interest with her trip to the MidEast leaving Barack looking like a glorified extra on the world stage.)  Reuters adds:

 Washington intervened to end a similar standoff in August and is now again in contact with Iraqi and Kurdish officials to ease tension mounting over the formation of a new command center for Iraqi forces to operate in the disputed areas.
A legislator with the Sadrist bloc, a critic of Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki within his coalition, said the talks were not serious and dismissed the entire conflict as a sham.


Iraqi politicians are attempting to resolve the issue as well.  Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi visited with KRG President Massoud Barzani Wednesday and returned to Bahgdad yesterday to meet with Nouri al-Maliki.  All Iraq News notes that they met late yesterday evening and that a statement issued by al-Nuajaif called the meeting productive.

Bit by bit, all of the political blocs are getting into the process.All Iraq News notes that the National Alliance leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari is preparing a paper on the issue.  Alsumaria notes that Kurdistan Alliance MP Mahmoud Othman is calling for Nouri al-Maliki and Massoud Barzani to sit down together (this echoes Moqtada al-Sadr's call for a working lunch between the two to be hosted by Moqtada).Kitabat reports that sources are stating Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and KRG President Massoud Barzani are discussing the option of withdrawing confidence from Nouri. Dar Addustour reports that Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi traveled to Erbil yesterday to meet with Talabani and Barzani to discuss this issue.  All Iraq News says that Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Sadr bloc, has given the green light for such talks. 

Kitabat picks up the story about Nouri al-Maliki declaring that Kuridstan officials could not leave the country without the federal government/s permission -- that would be Nouri's permission.  It is intended to be an inflammatory insult.  It has no teeth.  Not unlike when Nouri was screeching that the KRG had to hand over Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and they didn't have to do that and they didn't do that.  They will continue to do as they want.  They share a border with Turkey which doesn't take orders from Nouri.  Hurriyet Daily News notes:


The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement on its website today calling for the Iraqi government to “not make imaginary assumptions about the expectations of the Turkish public, but to listen to advice instead,” according to daily Hurriyet. 
The statement was released Nov. 23 in response to a statement issued by the Iraqi Prime Ministry several days before that accused Turkey of “meddling with regional problems." 

 And we'll close with this from observations on the region by Khalaf Al Habtoor (Gulf News):

Conversely, the real news barely gets a front-page mention primarily because the American readership is disinterested in what their military has perpetrated in Afghanistan and Iraq in their name. How many care that thousands of their troops were sacrificed under democracy’s standard when, in reality, Iraq has fallen into the arms of America’s enemy Iran? Conversely, the real news barely gets a front-page mention primarily because the American readership is disinterested in what their military has perpetrated in Afghanistan and Iraq in their name. How many care that thousands of their troops were sacrificed under democracy’s standard when, in reality, Iraq has fallen into the arms of America’s enemy Iran? 
Where is their fury over up to one million lost Iraqi lives and the squandering of more than one trillion of their tax dollars? 


The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.







 



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Iraq: Persecution of women, protests, corruption and more

In Iraq, Parliament's Human Rights Commission announced earlier this week that they will begin making prison inspections due to the increased reports of women being abused and treated poorly in prison, Al Mada reports.  The announcement led the Ministry of Justice to announce mid-week that they are responsible for prison interrogations.  And outside of prison?  Hanaa Edwar states, "Day after day, I am seeing more indicators that there is discrimination against women who choose not to wear hijab in Iraq."  Dina al-Shibeeb (Al Arabiya) speaks with Hanaa Edwar who founded the Iraqi Women's Network and is the General Secretary of Iraqi al-Amal Association:

 Edwar, also founder of Iraqi Women’s Network, sounded the alarm about attempts to force women to wear the hijab, especially in government offices.
Head of Iraq’s Ministry of Women, Ibtihal Kasid al-Zubaidi, ordered in January that women working in government offices dress “modestly.” Zubaidi axed tight pants, short skirts and colorful clothes.
Zubaidi, who segregated genders in her ministry, was lambasted as "anti-female" and her ministry described as an "anti-women ministry."
Edwar’s Iraqi Women Network, made up of 18 civil society organizations, protested against Zubaidi’s policy, describing it as seeking to curb women’s civil liberties.
More women are approaching Edwar to file their complaints about government institutions and even TV channels belonging to religious political which enforce strict dress code and gender segregation.

Hanaa Edwar also decries the increase in temporary marriages in Iraq.  Kelly McEvers (NPR's All Things Considered -- link is audio and text) reported on temporary marriages in October of 2010 with Robert Siegel observing in the introduction that the practice is popular in Iraq but had not been in Iraq where it was banned by Saddam Hussein.  After the US invaded Iraq in 2003, things changed.  Excerpt:

 KELLY MCEVERS: This woman is so ashamed about what happened to her, she doesn't want to give her name. A mother of three, she says her husband abandoned her when she found out he preferred men. She had no way to support the family.

Unidentified Woman: (Foreign language spoken) 

MCEVERS: A religious figure in her neighborhood promised to help. He brought her to his home, locked the door and had sex with her. He offered her $15.
For the man at least, it was a brief moment of muta'a, the Arabic word for pleasure and the Arabic word for temporary marriage.

Unidentified Woman: (Foreign language spoken)

MCEVERS: The woman says the man who had sex with her worked with leading Shiite religious clerics in the Iraqi City of Najaf. It's one of the most revered places in Shiite Islam.
We're standing on a main street in the Holy City of Najaf. Just down some of these smaller streets are the offices of the Marjah. That's the four top clergymen for the Shiite community in all of Iraq.


Demonstrations have not vanished in Iraq. Al Mada reports that yesterday, for the third day in a row, special needs persons staged a strike outside the Kurdistan Parliament in Sulaimaniya.   They are staging a hunger strike, spokesperson Iara Mohammed explained, that the money allocated to those with special needs does not meet the most basic needs.  Meanwhile, a strike is threatened in Babylon.  Al Mada reports that teachers in Babylon are considering going on strike for, among other reasons, a lack of protection and accountability.  A school headmaster was killed and Wednesday saw demonstrations over it.  It is not felt that the death is being taken seriously or being investigated as needed.

Al Mada also notes that Iraqiya is pushing for Parliament to host Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for questions about the Russian arms deal.  The $4.2 billion deal was signed with much fanfare weeks ago only to have Nouri announce it was off.  Corruption rumors have swirled around the deal.   Al Rafidayn notes that one target of the rumors continues to be Nouri's spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh.  al-Dabbagh has publicly denied involvement in the deal.  However, All Iraq News reports National Alliance MP Jawad Albzona notes that his al-Dabbagh's dismissal as spokesperson this week does not answer any questions and that al-Dabbagh is seen as a major player in the arms deal.



In other news, All Iraq News notes that, as the religious holiday of Ashura approaches, the Ministry of Health has sent Iraqis a text message warning them that terrorists are attempting to use foods, beverages and medicine to poison Iraqis. So Iraqis should be fine if they avoid all medicine.  And all food.  And all liquids.  Al Mada notes that Parliament's Integrity Commission disputes their ranking by Transparency International on the corruption index.  Today is the International Day to End Impunity.  Transparency International explains:


 Friday, 23 November marks the International Day to End Impunity. At Transparency International we view impunity as getting away with bending the law, beating the system or escaping punishment. Impunity is anathema to the fight against corruption.
Earlier this month, activists, businesspeople, politicians, public officials, journalists, academics, youth and citizens who convened at the 15th International Anti-Corruption Conference in Brazil made it clear that transparency alone is not enough but must be accompanied by prosecution and punishment.
In a joint declaration, the gathering of 1,900 representatives from 140 countries called on political, business and community leaders everywhere “to embrace not only transparency in public life but a culture of transparency leading to a participatory society in which leaders are accountable.”
“We are watching those who act with impunity and we will not let them get away with it,” said the declaration, adopted in Brasília on 10 November.
The International Day to End Impunity is organized by IFEX, a global network that defends and promotes free expression. Events in more than 14 countries raise public awareness about what creates and sustains a culture of impunity. Transparency International supports the goals of protecting journalists and others engaged in the vitally important work of exposing corruption.
Dictionary definition of impunity im·pu·ni·ty  [im-pyoo-ni-tee]
noun
1. exemption from punishment.
2. immunity from detrimental effects, as of an action.
Many of Transparency International’s some 100 national chapters are involved in initiatives that work toward ending impunity for corruption in their country, including helping in the detection of corruption, facilitating access to the judiciary, strengthening the judiciary’s independence and capacity, or by analysing and monitoring how corruption cases are being judged.
TI’s Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALACs) offer the opportunity for citizens to pursue complaints about corruption. ALACs also play an instrumental role in identifying corruption hotspots that demand reform or official action. These centres are already functioning in more than 50 countries.
Our Rwandan ALAC pursued a case of land grabbing involving a mining cooperative president who sought to renew the mine’s certificate under his name. With the help of the ALAC, an investigation was launched with the Public Prosecutor Authority; after being taken to court the cooperative president’s was sentenced to 10 years in jail and fined nearly US$3,500.
Many TI chapters have conducted election monitoring, including in Serbia, Bahrain and the Dominican Republic. In Venezuela, our chapter is part of an initiative, Alerta Electoral, which monitors electoral irregularities including potential misuse of taxpayer money by political candidates.
Several TI chapters are also working to improve whistleblower protections by advocating for strong legislation and assisting whistleblowers. These include chapters in Hungary, Lebanon and Zambia.
Our chapter in Ireland has established “Speak Up”, a free, secure helpline and online system for employees considering reporting wrongdoing. The Ireland chapter is also campaigning for the passage of a national whistleblower law that would cover all employees.
The need to fight impunity was also stressed at the closing session of the 15th International Anti-Corruption Conference, which called for the promotion of a culture of transparency leading to a participatory society in which leaders are held accountable.
Transparency International believes that ‘impunity undermines integrity everywhere’ and is proud to participate on 23 November along with citizens who are fighting to end impunity for corruption and other crimes.

Press contact(s):

Chris Sanders
Manager, Media and Public Relations
press@transparency.org
+49 30 3438 20 666


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The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.





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