Some fools and suck-ups will point to Nouri's for-show release of prisoners -- ignoring the fact that a list of those released has not been produced and that, most importantly, you're not meeting the demands of the protests if every day you're ordering mass arrests. 38 arrested in Wasit Province alone today. You're not addressing the issue of the imprisoned with a few token releases as every day you continue your mass -- and ridiculous -- arrests. Iraq needs to be publicly rebuked globally for arresting the wives, spouses, children of suspects. You don't arrest people for who they're related to. That's ridiculous and it's offensive. And one of the demands of the protesters is for this to stop. That's not a new demand, it's been a demand for months now. And the protesters are more than aware that the mass arrests continue. This morning, Iraqi Spring MC has even Tweeted about 71 Diyala prisoners being transferred to a Baghdad prison.
Nouri's done nothing to meet the demands of the protesters. He's pulling his usual stall, stall, try to exhaust your opponent m.o. that he always utilizes.
National Iraqi News Agency quotes a police source stating, "Unidentified gunmen kidnapped on Thursday 14, March, the tribal Sheikh Qais al-Janabi and his son, who is a candidate for the next local elections, Abdul Karim Qais and five of their relatives. The gunmen forced the seven people, at gunpoint, to get out of their car in the Siniah area of Baiji, north of Tikrit, and were taken to an unknown destination."
The tribal leader is linked to the ongoing protests. As this Facebook post makes clear, the protesters believe this was done by a government militia and is part of Nouri's continued crackdown and targeting of the protesters.
Why might they think that? Well there's Nouri's history of targeting the protesters. There's the fact that, remember the photo below from Iraqi Spring Media Center, his federal forces have been videotaping the protesters and following them to their homes in an attempt to intimidate them.
There's also the fact, as Yang Yi (Xinhua) reports, that the kidnappers have a demand, "Later in the day, the kidnappers phoned Qais family and told them to write a statement calling for the people not to participate in the invalid elections and publish it on local television."
Al Mada reports that a spokesperson for the demonstrators has called out Nouri's puppet Saadoun al-Dulaimi, stating al-Dulaimi is using the military against the protesters. Saadoun al-Dulaimi is the 'acting' Minister of Defense. There's no such position in the Iraqi Constitution. The Constitution mandates that the Prime Minister-Designate name a full Cabinet and do so within thirty days or another Prime Minister-Designate is named and he or she has 30 days to name a full Cabinet. Nouri's second term has nothing to do with the Constitution. Having lost the popular vote, he had no claim on a second term. But Barack Obama wanted the US-installed puppet to remain in charge so the US brokered The Erbil Agreement which circumvented the Constitution and gave Nouri a second term as prime minister.
The National Iraqi News Agency reports that KRG President Massoud Barzani declared today that the Kurds will either be partners in Iraq or they will take the measures they see necessary. Barzani's referring to Nouri's refusal to honor agreements, "He stressed that the cause of the political crises that took place is not to abide by the constitution, noting that the solution to this crisis is the implementation of the Arbil Agreement 2010, which he described as 'a road map to end the crisis'."
For those who forgot or never knew, after Nouri's State of Law came in second place to Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya in the March 2010 elections, Nouri refused to allow the Constitutional process to begin. The minute it began, he wasn't prime minister. So he refused to step down, he refused to abdicate. He held the country hostage. He was only able to get away with that because both the White House and the Iranian government were backing him. For eight months, he held the country hostage. The press tended to play down the significance of the political stalemate. They tried to act it was normal. Or argue that it was only a few votes more. You only one more vote than the other candidate to win an election. A win is a win.
After 8 months when Parliament couldn't meet, when the government had been at a standstill, the US approached the various leaders of the political blocs and told them (a) Nouri could hold out for another 8 months so (b) be mature and put Iraq's interests ahead of everything else and (c) agree to give Nouri a second term and (d) in exchange, it will be put in writing and you can get promises from Nouri in writing about things you want. For the KRG, that included the implementation of Article 140.
Right there you see the problem with Nouri as a leader. The Kurds were bargaining with him in November 2010 to implement Article 140.
They shouldn't have.
Nouri took an oath to uphold the Constitution. He became prime minister in 2006. The Constitution declares that Article 140 has to be implemented. It even had a timeline, by the end of 2007. Nouri refused to do it.
There never should have been a negotiation with Nouri to get him to follow the Constitution. If he can't follow it, he can't be prime minister.
So everyone threw in a demand or two. It was all written up, the US government assured the political leaders that this was a binding contract and that, most important, the US government would stand behind this contract. The leaders signed off.
Nouri used it to get his second term. The Parliament finally held their first meeting. Iraqiya demanded Nouri name Ayad Allawi to head an independent national security council -- one of the legal clauses in the contract. Nouri said he couldn't. Not yet. It was too soon. The bulk of Iraqiya walked out of Parliament. The US cajoled them and got them back inside. Nouri's going to follow the contract, just give it time. It's the first day.
He never followed the contract. To this day.
And all those promises from the White House? Never followed up on. It's why the US' image is so poor in Iraq today. The changing from Bush to Barack gave the US image a lift in Iraq. There was hope among Iraqis that President Barack Obama would be different. But all he's done is disappoint.
Barzani was speaking at the Kurdish Genocide International Conference in Erbil. All Iraq News notes, "The Confence was held on the 25th Anniversary of bombing Halabcha city by the chemical weapons in the 1980s by the former regime."
Dr. Mustafa Alani reflects on the last ten years for Iraq at Al Arabiya today:
Soon after the military operation successfully achieved the occupation of the state, the occupying powers, namely the U.S. and UK, discovered that they had not prepared properly or adequately for post-occupation Iraq. They had no vision on how to handle the security situation or rebuild the state. The Iraqi opposition groups which allied themselves with the occupiers had no credibility or experience in managing a state like Iraq. They were mostly corrupt politicians who assumed responsibility mainly to benefit themselves and who contributed widely to the further destruction of the Iraqi state and society. Today, 10 years after the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the mistakes and misleading policies of the U.S. have plunged Iraq into a deep and never-ending crisis. Sectarianism, regionalism, ethnic divisions, and religious conflict, are only a few of the malaises that affect the new Iraq. The country faces major problems because of widespread corruption, lack of basic services, a non-functioning economy, high rate of unemployment, outside influence and interference, the threat of terrorism, and criminal activities. Ten years after the so-called “liberation,” most Iraqi citizens remain a prisoner of fear – fear of dying anytime and anywhere because of terrorist attacks, criminals’ threats, armed militia violence, or even government forces’ abuses. They live under the shadow of unknown and unpredictable threats to life from multiple sources. Along with the tangible threat to his life, a citizen’s dignity can be violated at any time by these new emerging forces and also his own government.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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