Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Iraq again slammed with violence

Iraq is yet again slammed with violence.  Kareem Raheem, Raheem Salman, Sylvia Westall, Yara Bayoumy, Sami Aboudi and Mark Heinrich (Reuters) count 71 dead today and another 201 injured.  AFP counts over a dozen bombs in Baghdad. In Baghdad, Haddad Salih (BBC News) notes of the areas hit, "Some of these areas are Shia dominat, others are mixed, Shia-Sunni, while Mahmudiya and Saydiyah to the south are mainly Sunni."  Fu Peng (Xinhua) explains, "The attacks occurred during the morning rush hours when 12 car bombs went off in Baghdad, while a suicide bomber struck a restaurant in the nearby town of Mahmoudiyah, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity."

 Sadie Gray (Times of London) repeats  Reuters' report of an eye witness in Sadr City believes he saw a man park a car, eat "breakfast and drank his tea" before setting off a car bomb,  "I heard a huge explosion when I was inside the kitchen.  When I went outside, I saw his car completely damaged and he had disappeared.  Many people were hurt."

In addition to violence in Baghdad, NINA reports a Tikrit roadside bombing left two police officers injured, a Hilla armed attack claimed the life of 1 military captain (eleven soldiers left injured), a Mosul roadside bombing claimed 1 life and left four other family members injured (all were Shabaks),  and 1 police officer was shot dead in Kirkuk.


Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) points out, "This comes as Iraqi security forces have been conducting "The Revenge for the Martyrs" -- an operation designed to track down al Qaeda members in and around Baghdad."  Because violence doesn't solve violence.  But why should Nouri grasp what his puppet master Barack doesn't?  Alsumaria reports Nouri has declared Iraq to be on maximum alert.  Which means attack the press.  Alsumaria notes Nouri's SWAT forces hace detained an Alsumaria reporter. 



Cedric's "He's overcompensating" and Wally's "THIS JUST IN! MORE THAN A CHIP ON HIS SHOULDER!" just went up.

Restore the Fourth notes:
We have some great news and some big announcements. The fight against unconstitutional surveillance is gaining more traction with the public, the media, and Washington. Americans are taking advantage of the summer recess to demand their representatives vote to protect the Fourth Amendment, Restore the Fourth has a new logo, and our next national event is just two months away.
 
If you’ve been following the news you know that it’s not all great. Some surveillance-protected web services have had to shut down in the face of government intrusion. We’re regularly learning more and more about the extent of unconstitutional surveillance, including that the NSA’s network has “the capacity to reach around 75 percent of all U.S. Internet communications.” We learned from an internal NSA audit that the agency breaks “privacy rules” or “oversteps its legal authority” literally thousands of times per year. Meanwhile, British authorities detained the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald for nine hours at Heathrow airport in an apparent play to intimidate Greenwald from continuing his work revealing the NSA’s transgressions.
 
The good news is that our message is being heard, that the public isn't letting all of this go. A late July poll showed the number of Americans that agree “anti-terror policies have gone too far in restricting civil liberties” has nearly doubled since 2010, and Restore the Fourth’s second round of protests on August 4th garnered further national and international media attention. On August 9th, President Obama announced “proposals to reform NSA surveillance.” Although that warrants a huge amount of skepticism, it shows Washington knows the movement against unconstitutional surveillance is too much to just ignore.
 
While the administration struggles to spin the story in its favor, the President’s approval rating among young voters has taken a 14-point plummet since the NSA scandal was revealed in June. The Amash Amendment came just short of passing in the House of Representatives a month ago, and one congressman has observed that the news since then “would have changed the outcome” of the vote. Meanwhile, new legislation to curb unconstitutional surveillance is already in the works.
 
Summer Recess: It’s Not Too Late
 
Congress will be back in session on September 9th, giving us two more weeks to use town halls and in-district meetings to take advantage of the traction we've gained. If you haven’t already, please make an effort to get a face-to-face meeting with your representative to tell him or her you demand legislation ending unconstitutional surveillance. You only need about 5 people to make your presence memorable, and scheduling a meeting is often easier than you expect. Here are some resources that can help you:
 
Join Us in Washington October 26th
 
On October 26th, the anniversary of the PATRIOT Act, Restore the Fourth will rally against unconstitutional surveillance with a march on Washington. We hope people everywhere will make the trip and make their voices heard. We also call on all pro-Fourth Amendment organizations to join us in D.C., to help make sure the “next Amash Amendment” passes. Those already planning to include Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, Fress Press, and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. We’ll be releasing a lot more details as they’re finalized, but make plans to join Restore the Fourth and our allies for this national event.



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