Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Continued violence, vanishing coverage

Thank goodness bombings and shootings have finally stopped in Iraq and things are finally peaceful after -- What's that?

Things aren't any better?

Oh, all that happened was the momentary interest those who've ignored Iraq for six months or longer in the United States have yet again lost interest.

Last week, AP's Adam Schreck Tweeted about Lara Jakes' report on the quick move away from the topic of Iraq:


    1. 16 Aug
      For US, other crises overshadow 's rising unrest. Good piece by , who should know


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      2:16 AM - 16 Aug 13 · Details

Fars News Agency notes, "A new wave of deadly attacks and armed clashes in Iraq killed at least 35 people and injured dozens more, according to security and hospital sources. All of the deadly incidents occurred on Tuesday, press tv reported." Yesterday's violence took the death toll for the month thus far, Iraq Body Count notes, to 529 violent deaths.

And the violence continues today.  National Iraqi News Agency reports a bombing near Imam Ali Military Air Base (near Nasiriyah) left three shepherds injured, a Mosul roadside bombing left 1 person dead and five more injured,  a Tikrit roadside bombing left 2 police officers dead and one more injured,  1 police officer was shot dead outside his Falluja home, an Erbil sticky bombing has left one person injured, a Mosul roadside bombing has killed 2 Iraqi soldiers and left four civilians injured, a Hawija bombing has left three Iraqi police officers injured, a Tikrit roadside bombing has injured one person, a Baquba roadside bombing has injured two people,  All Iraq News notes another Tikrit bombing which injured SWAT officer Uday Mohamed al-Jabara and his driver.



That's six reported deaths so far today with twenty-two injured.

 AFP notes, "Iraq's oil exports to Turkey were halted Wednesday by three bombings that targeted an oil pipeline north of Baghdad, the latest in a series of such attacks this year."  Press TV observes, "On August 13, the same pipeline was also targeted."


In other news, All Iraq News reports, "The Premier, Nouri al-Maliki, will conduct an official visit, which will last for four days, to India on next Thursday in response to an official invitation from the Indian PM."  Press Trust of India adds, "India and Iraq, second largest oil exporter to the country, are expected to ink a key pact on energy cooperation among other agreements during the three-day visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki from Thursday.  In a first bilateral visit by a head of government in 38 years, the Iraqi Prime Minister will hold comprehensive talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh which will also focus on investment from New Delhi in much-needed reconstruction of the war-wrecked country."  A piece of paper is a piece of paper.  Which doesn't just mean that Nouri has a problem with keeping his word.  It also means, as Prashant Rao (AFP) reminds, "But the prospects of luring foreign investment to Iraq have been complicated as the country has been hit by its worst violence since 2008, with the interior ministry describing Iraq as a 'battleground'."

Nouri gets noted today by Gian Gentile (Philadelphia Inquirer), "By invading Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein and occupying the country for nearly nine years to rebuild it, the United States has replaced one dictator with another strong-arm leader. And that leader, Nouri Maliki, is closely aligned with America's primary foe in the region, Iran."

Paul Courson (CNN) reports Iraq War veteran and whistle-blower Bradley Manning has been sentenced to 35 years by the US military for exposing War Crimes.  Brad's awful defense attorney David Coombs plans to hold a press conference this afternoon.  Of course, when Brad needed him, the idiot Coombs refused to do press.  Apparently, the attorney feels it's time for a victory lap.

Once upon a time, during the Bully Boy Bush years, The Progressive felt Nate Hentoff was worth listening to and featured a monthly column by him.  These days they offer crap -- quickly dashed off echo chamber pieces and 'touchy feely writers' who pretend they have something to say but don't.  Aspen Daily News carries Hentoff's latest:

The reporter who has been facilitating Snowden’s breaking news, thus disturbing Obama’s golf games, is The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald. He’s made Edward Snowden into a household name. Last month, Greenwald reported on “major public opinion shifts in how NSA surveillance and privacy are viewed,” further troubling our leading-from-behind commander-in-chief. He spoke of “a new comprehensive poll released ... by Pew Research (that) provides the most compelling evidence yet of how stark the shift is” (“Major opinion shifts, in the U.S. and Congress, on NSA surveillance and privacy,” Greenwald, The Guardian, July 29).
Dig this, Obama. According to the poll: “A majority of Americans — 56 percent — say that federal courts fail to provide adequate limits on the telephone and internet data the government is collecting as part of its anti-terrorism efforts.
“An even larger percentage (70 percent) believes that the government uses this data for purposes other than investigating terrorism” (“Few See Adequate Limits on NSA Surveillance Program,” Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, July 26).
You see, we’re a lot smarter than Obama thinks we are.


Yesterday, Cedric and Wally's joint-post went up:


Earlier their latest went up:



Between the two, other community sites updated but they're not showing on the links.  Here are the community posts from last night and this morning not showing on the links:

"The idiot DC Blogger at Corrente and the lies she ..."
"Superficial NPR"
"Some political thoughts"
"the ridiculous floyd abrams"
"The disgraceful defense David Coombs offered"
"More on Greenwald"
"Bradley Manning"
"Do we really need Captain Phillips?"
"Turley nails it"
"Bully of the Week: Government"


Last week, we noted US Senator Bob Corker visited Iraq.  We'll note this from the US Embassy in Baghdad on that visit:

August 15, 2013
U.S. Senator Bob Corker traveled August 13-14 to Baghdad and Erbil, Iraq. In Baghdad, the Senator met with Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, Deputy Prime Minister Salih al-Mutlaq, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, MP Humam Hamoudi, and other Iraqi leaders. In Erbil, Senator Corker met with Deputy Secretary-General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and former Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government Dr. Barham Salih and Dr. Fuad Hussein, Chief of Staff to Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani.
During these meetings they discussed the full range of bilateral and regional political, economic, and security issues, including the impact of the crisis in Syria on Iraq. In all of his meetings, the Senator reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to help Iraq overcome the scourge of terrorism and to continue working with Iraq’s leaders and people to strengthen the U.S.-Iraq relationship under the Strategic Framework Agreement.
Senator Bob Corker is the ranking member of the United States Foreign Relations Committee and an active member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.


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