Saturday, February 02, 2013

Nouri gets hacked, Barack doesn't want to go to Iraq


Reuters reports Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's website was hacked today by TeaM KuWaiT HaCkErS who posted a photo and a message: "You want to be like Bashar al-Assad.  You are a destroyer.  Bashar is finished and victory is very close.  God help you sons of Iraq against the tyranny."  AP describes the photo as "a picture of wailing black-clad women in mourning."  Dar Addustour notes this is the second time in the last weeks that Nouri's website has been hacked and that the hack comes as Iraq already faces turmoil.   AFP observes, "The discord comes amid weeks of demonstrations in Iraq's majority-Sunni north and west originally railing against the targeting of their community by the Shiite-led authorities but have increasingly called for the premier to go." Kamal Naama (Reuters) offers, "The protests are evolving in the most serious test yet for Maliki and his fragile government that splits posts among Shiites, Sunnis and ethnic Kurds, who were already deadlocked over how to share power for more than a year."


Yesterday Iraq saw the largest turnout yet for the ongoing weeks of protest.  Alsumaria reports that Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi appeared at an appearance today in Samarra that the government has begun the process of listening to the demonstrators.  al-Nujaifi was flanked by government and tribal officials and, holding a microphone, spoke directly to those engaged in an ongoing sit-in.  While al-Nujaifi was received with respect, another wasn't so lucky.  Deputy Prime Minister of Energy Hussein al-Shahristani is seen as another powerless Nouri al-Maliki lacky.    He was given time.  In the middle of January, protesters met with him in Salahuddin Province and Anbar as well.   But what followed was Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports that he wanted to speak in Mosul yesterday but the visit was officially called off due to "bad weather" when in fact, Mosul protesters and the local government had made clear that he was not welcome.  Earlier this week, the demonstrators did agree to meet with Martin Kobler, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Iraq. But then the United Nations has a better reputation in Iraq than does Nouri's State of Law political slate (al-Shahristani is a State of Law member). 

The protests are fueled by many things but the moment the match hit the gas was when Nouri's forces targeted the staff of the Minister of Finance Rafie al-Issawi. Pakistan's The News explains, "The demonstrations were the latest in a wave of rallies that have continued largely uninterrupted since late December, sparked by the arrest of a group of guards of Finance Minister Rafa al-Essawi, a senior Sunni leader. Maliki faces myriad problems, including vocal opposition from many of his erstwhile government partners less than three months before key provincial elections. Iraqi authorities have taken several steps aimed at curbing the protests. "  Al Mada reports that al-Issawi declared today that protesters will not leave the streets until their demands are met.  That would be very smart, for protesters to grasp Nouri throws around empty promises very easily.  They should demand solid results.  Not only does All Iraq News report today that the Kurdistan Regional Government announces Nouri has gone back on his agreement with them regarding oil but there is also Nouri's long record of breaking one agreement after another ('give me 100 days and I will end corruption,' The Erbil Agreement, etc.).   Al Mada notes he's once again promising that patience will allow for a dialogue.  If people need more reason to doubt Nouri's sincerity, they can refer to All Iraq News' report that State of Law MP Salman al-Mousawi has delcared that all the demands by protesters are "unreal" and unrepresentative of the Iraqi people.



Violence today?  Alsumaria reports 1 Sahwa shot dead in Samarra.  All Iraq News notes a Mosul car bombing claimed the life of 1 man and left his two sons injured and, also in Mosul, 1 man was shot dead outside his home.  AFP deserves credit for this brief article on how the Ministries of Defence, Health and Interior are saying only 177 people died from violence last month in Iraq but AFP's own count shows 246 dead. (A slightly longer version of the AFP report can be found here.)

Yesterday's snapshot noted the election of the Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon, Archbishop Louis Sako.  Harry Hagopian (Ekklesia) describes Sako as, "A renowned polyglot and relatively young at 65, he might help strengthen the ties between the Chaldean community within Iraq and the larger Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and those in the West -- some of whom were trying to transfer the Patriarchal See from its traditional location in Baghdad to the USA."  AP quotes the Archbishop declaring yesterday, "I will do my best to serve the Iraqi people.  I hope peace and security will prevail in my country."  The election comes at a crucial time for Iraqi Christians.  Matteo Fagotto (Toronto Star) reports:
The Iraqi Christian population has shrunk to between 300,000 and 500,000, down from a high of 1.3 million people in 1991, according to recent estimates, raising fears about the possible extinction of one of the most ancient Christian communities in the world.
A recent report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) shows that the number of displaced Christian families in the four northern governorates of Iraq (three of which are in Kurdistan) has decreased from 1,350 to fewer than 500 in 2011. Meanwhile, the same year, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in neighbouring Turkey recorded an increase in Iraqi refugees, half of them (around 1,700) Christians.

All Iraq News notes that Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, issued a statement today congratulating Archbishop Sako on his new position.

The flooding continues in Iraq.  People have been evacuated from their homes, homes have collapsed, water has been knee deep in Baghdad and there's been no action from Nouri.  All Iraq News notes that Nouri has finally called a Cabinet meeting for Sunday to address the flooding.


The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com, NYT's At War blog, Pacifica Evening News and Adam Kokesh  -- updated last night and today:




And Trina's "Quiche in the Kitchen" which isn't showing up yet.  US Vice President Joe Biden was in Munich today and spoke.  The White House has corrected some of his speech.  Some of it they have let stand.  What does the speech say to Iraqis?  Here are four paragraphs -- the first is included only to show that the White House has gone through and corrected Joe where they felt he was wrong.  So clearly, they stand by Joe's remarks on Iraq:
In each of our countries, we’ve had fine men and women who have made significant contributions while they were actively involved in the political process. But many of them, upon leaving that political office they held, recede into private life and their contributions end. I would suggest that Dick Lugar’s* [*sic- Sam Nunn’s] contributions have been as profound from the day he left the United States Senate and public elective office as they have been when he was in public office, and I believe you’ll see the same thing can be said of my very close friend, Sam Nunn* [*sic Dick Lugar]. We, as a country, are lucky to have them both and I would argue everyone assembled in this conference is lucky they are still deeply involved in the security interests of all of us involved. So again, congratulations, Sam. Congratulations. (Applause.)
It’s great to be back among friends. When I say among friends, I mean not only the distinguished guests that are from around the world who have joined us in this conference. I also mean to be back here in Germany, to be back here in Europe. I have traveled over 640,000 miles since I’ve been Vice President, and most of the time the President sends me to places that he doesn’t want to go. (Laughter.) So I’ve spent an awful lot of time with McCain and others in Afghanistan and Iraq, and so it’s nice to be here in Germany. (Laughter.) It’s nice to be invited back. (Applause.)
You remain, to state the obvious, America’s oldest and our closest allies. And it’s hard to imagine a single threat or a single opportunity that cannot be addressed more effectively if we do so together. Simply put, President Obama and I continue to believe that, Europe is the cornerstone of our engagement with the rest of the world and is the catalyst for our global cooperation. It’s that basic. Nothing has changed.
Where we come from is a place that understands that this European alliance is critical to our interests. When I came to Munich four years ago this week, I focused on the challenges of our time, and how this new administration in our first term of office planned on dealing with those challenges. Those challenges included Iraq and Afghanistan; addressing the failure of Iran to meet the international obligations with regard to its nuclear program; managing the crisis of the global economy, which was in a precarious position at that moment; fighting terrorism; repairing our relationships between the United States and Russia.
And today, I’m pleased to report on the undeniable progress that we’ve made together in each of these fields. Four years ago, American foreign policy -- and the majority of the discussions with our friends and partners -- was dominated by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, we’re in the process of turning the page on more than a decade of conflict following the September 11, 2001 attack, and we ended the war in Iraq responsibly. And together we’re responsibly drawing down in Afghanistan, and by the end of next year, the transition will be complete.





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





iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
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I Hate The War

There are many things that get sent to the public e-mail account.  Most aren't Iraq related.  Those that are Iraq related (or even adjacent) don't always get a nod here for other reasons.

We're not interested in quoting from Kevin Tully's OpEd News piece for two main reasons.

1) It's sarcastic.  I have no problem with sarcasm.  But I have learned from all our years online that there are readers who may not get that it is sarcasm.  You may not need my "That was sarcasm" if you're primary language is English, but if it's one of your languages and you're reading from a country other than the US, you may not grasp that it is sarcasm.

We have a large number of readers from all over the world -- including in Iraq.  Tully's attempts at sarcasm would not be understood by some.

2) Tully's written a dishonest piece.

I do not endorse the piece but here's the link to it.

He's lying about Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham.

Why is Tully lying?

Maybe because he's a cheap hack who never learned how to argue?

Maybe because he's too lazy to pay attention to actual events.

He has McCain and Graham insisting that Iraq is a democracy and ignoring all the violence that has been taking place recently.

That's a gross distortion and lie.

And the violence only adds to the argument that Barack Obama made a mistake by withdrawing (most) American troops at the end of 2011.  Tully grasps that, right?



Sue Hullett (Register-Guard) argues today that Barack has had many failures and topping her list?

 Obama’s first term encountered serious strategic failures. (1) Obama fled Iraq before solidifying the fledgling democratically elected government in Iraq. As a result, Sunni- Shia violence re-emerged, government bodies subverted the democratic path begun out of the successful American “surge” of forces and funding in 2007-2008, and Iran sneaked in to intensify Iran-Iraq (Shia) collaboration.

Whether you agree with Hullett or not, you better grasp she's out there and there are many other people who agree with her.  You better grasp what we've been pointing out, that the illegal war has garnered public support under Barack.

You better also try grasping that Iraq's only going to get worse.  It cannot get better under Nouri al-Maliki.  Barack's brain trust of Samantha Power, Valerie Jarrett and Susan Rice told him otherwise. 

They were wrong.

As wrong as Kevin Tully is today.

McCain and Graham are publicly on record -- we've covered those Senate hearings -- saying it was a mistake for Barack to pull troops.  If Iraq is a mess today -- and it is -- and you're supposedly opposed to war, you need to start making real arguments and stop assuming your bitchery is working.  Polls indicate it's not working.

Iraq is a disaster today.  The reason it's a disaster is not just because of the 2003 invasion.  It's a disaster also because the Iraqi people spoke in 2010 wanting someone other than Nouri al-Maliki to be their prime minister.  Barack Obama overruled the Iraqi people, overruled democracy, overruled the vote and not only backed Nouri for eight months -- preventing a caretaker government from being set up -- but he also ordered the creation of the US-brokered Erbil Agreement.  Since Nouri didn't 'win' a second term, they had to go around the Constitution and did so with a contract that the various political blocs signed off on.

Iraqis lived under the bad rule of Nouri for four years and did not want four more years.  But their needs didn't matter to the White House which thought that they could overrule the will of the Iraqi people.

Nouri is the problem, the problem cannot go away until he does.  That can be by election, that can be by bullet.  But as long as he's in power, things get worse and worse.  He's got basically seven years now of a bad reputation.  Even with the p.r. efforts (and big money was just spent hiring a western p.r. outlet), the best they can do is add a layer of make up.  But the skin underneat remains the same and as some point the blush and foundation gets removed.

Nouri cannot overcome the reputation he built. 

Even if he wanted to and he's too paranoid to want to.  He's unstable and he's always been that way.  Is Tully unaware of that?

We've noted Nouri's paraonia since 2006, we were at the forefront.  Now you can't read articles by people who know him (most recently, just last week, Emma Skye) without them raising the issue of his paranoia. 

In 2008, he worked with US military leaders to plot an assault on Sadr's followers in Basra.  Is Tulley aware of what the US military says about that? 

It's not a secret and we covered it in a week long series of reports when then-Gen David Petraeus appeared before various Congressional committees.  Nouri refused to follow the timetable.  As the plan was being mapped out, he was all for this assault and that assault, but he didn't like the timetable.  So he took the plan and, without informing the US military, he launched the attack leaving everyone else to scramble.

He's unbalanced.

I don't approve of assaulting Moqtada's supporters.  But Nouri did.  And then he jump-started it.  What was the result there?  American forces had to save Nouri.  His own military had a desertion rate that the US government (unofficially) places at 38%.  During that operation, approximately 38% of Nouri's fighters deserted.

That's why what the American military had hoped would be a show of force by Nouri (the whole thing was going to be staged) turned into a nightmare which required the American military not just to provide support but to take the lead.

Again, I don't approve of that military 'adventure.'  I think it was wrong, I think it terrorized the Iraqi people in Basra (and in Baghdad where it also was in effect but on a much smaller scale).  But Nouri did.  He saw it as a way to improve his image.  So a stable person, a functioning person, would wait for the best time to carry out the operation.  Instead, Nouri jumped the gun and launched it before the Americans were ready and, as the desertion rate demonstrates, before his own forces were ready.

The reality of that assualt is that it strengthened Moqtada al-Sadr.

It led people who wrote him off to rally around him. 

He was a minor player at that point.  He'd been Iran too long.  There was an arrest warrant for him in Iraq, he'd disappeared from the scene except for weekly edicts.

That action elevated him.  He was no longer "radical, anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr" as the US press loved to bill him. 

And you can probably make an argument that the maturity and growth he shows publicly now (and has since 2009) stems from that attack which became a teachable moment in that he really got it wasn't Nouri against the Sunnis, it was Nouri against everyone.

Anyone who's a potential threat to Nouri, even a popular Shi'ite like Moqtada, is someone Nouri will go after.

Tully seems aware that the US invaded Iraq in 2003 under Bully Boy Bush.  He seems unaware of events after and especially unaware of events that took place after Barack became president.

But please, keep distorting McCain and others.  That'll help -- if Tully's goal is to build popular support for the Iraq War. 

For those of us who know the war was illegal, Tulley's piece is not just useless, it's damaging.

I went back and forth over singling it out.  Then I realized we're just weeks away from a lot of bad writing.  The 10th anniversary of the ongoing Iraq War is next month.  All the blowhards who've ignored Iraq will show up with their easy-bake columns that could have been written in 2003.  They'll have no knowledge or insight into Iraq today.  They won't be aware of the targeting of the LGBT community.  They won't mention what's happening to girls and women in Iraqi prisons and detention centers.  They won't mention the 2010 elections. 

They'll write their columns and shake their little fists int he air as they rage against Bully Boy Bush, then they'll tell themselves they really accomplished something.

They didn't do a damn thing.  I would hope that every editor looking over a commentary on Iraq in the next weeks would use a red marker to write in the sidelines as they reject the piece: "Where's Iraq today?  Where in your column is anything about Iraq today?"

The world has enough blowhards.  Iraq's about to become trendy for a very brief period.  In that blink of an eye, the Iraqi people would benefit from the world paying attention to what is going on in their country right now, not from a bunch of tried, old columns that read like they were dusted off and reprinted.




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, February 01, 2013

Iraq snapshot

Friday, February 1, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, protests take place across Iraq, flooding continues, more families are being displaced as a result of the flooding, and more.


Protests took place throughout Iraq today with Al Mada reporting the numbers participating significantly rose from last week.  Hurriyet also observes, "The turnout appeared to be among the largest since the protests began in December."   Sofia News Agency reports, "In Adhamiyah, a mostly Sunni neighbourhood of north Baghdad, several hundred demonstrators resumed their weekly protest under heavy security measures at the Abu Hanifa mosque, calling for the release of prisoners they say are being wrongfully held."  Alsumaria reports Falluja saw tens of thousands turn out today and they took to the international highway (that connects Baghdad to Jordan) as The Voice of Russia notes. Today Reuters notes the protesters in Falluja chanted "NO" to Nouri al-Maliki.  Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) explains,  "The main rallies Friday took place in Fallujah and Ramadi, cities that straddle the highway running through Anbar province."  For a photo of thousands and thousands of occupying the highway in Falluja -- and the areas around the highway -- click on this Alsumaria page.  Click here for a photo of the Falluja protest taken byThaier al-Sudani (Reuters).   And AFP's Prashant Rao provides links to more photos.




8h
Pictures of Iraq's anti-government protests in Baghdad, Fallujah and Kirkuk by photographers:
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6h
Pictures of anti-government demos today in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Fallujah by photographers:
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A spokesperson for the Falluja protesters, Khaled Hamoud, tells Al-Shorfa, "Today's demonstrations are no different from previous demonstrations in terms of the demands and rights we are seeking.  We hope that the government will meet them and we are determined to continue our peaceful demonstrations."  Morning Star quotes from Cleric Abdul-Hameed Jadoua who addressed the Falluja protesters telling them "the blood of martyrs was shed so that the dignity of our Iraq and our tribes will be restored. [. . .]  From this place, we tell the government that we do not want to see a soldier from now on, not only in Fallujah, but in all its suburbs and villages."   The Christian Science Monitor and Al Jazeera correspondent Jane Arraf Tweeted the following on the Falluja protest today.


15h
Pick-up trucks full of young guys with flags heading for in what's expected to be huge protest after Friday prayers.
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13h
Prayers in - thousands still coming in ant-government protest - leaders appeal for non-violence.
View photo
11h
-huge gathering for prayers on highway, calls to remember the martyrs, anti-Maliki chants and then all went home for lunch
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Kitabat notes today's protests are a tribute to the Falluja martyrs who were killed last week.

Friday, January 25th, Nouri al-Maliki's armed thugs in Falluja fired on protesters killing at least seven (Alsumaria reported Saturday that another of the victims has died from wounds raising the death toll from six to seven)  and sixty more were left injured. Today Kitabat reports four more victims of last Friday's violence have died bringing the death toll to 11.  Protesters in Falluja were marching and taking part in a sit-in when the military opened fire on them.  Anbar Province has sworn out arrest warrants for the soldiers.  Rami G. Khouri (Daily Star) sees similarities between Egypt and Iraq:

The same applies to the tens of thousands of demonstrators in Iraq, who, like their Egyptian counterparts, are protesting the killing of demonstrators by the security services as well as a wider sense that the central government is not addressing the socio-economic and political rights of all citizens with diligence or fairness. In both cases, many ordinary citizens feel that one group is trying to monopolize power and seize control of the state. The Iraqi and Egyptian leaders have both acted with an authoritarianism that remind us of their predecessors’ policies in many ways., which Arabs now wish to leave behind them for good.

 Dar Addustour notes that Nouri met for six hours mid-week with armed forces commanders to discuss/anticipate today's protests.  Kitabat explains that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis took part in protests today throughout Anbar Province, Kirkuk Province, Nineveh Province, Diyala Province and Salahuddin following morning prayers. Dar Addustour quotes from Sheikh Abdul Hamid Jadou's sermon where he said that the prime minister needed to hear the protesters.  The Sheikh declared that positions don't last, the world does not last but God watches and Nouri needs to do the right thing.  Alsumaria notes that protesters in Kirkuk marched calling for government to implement their demands and calling for loyalty to the Falluja martyrs and that the heads of the tribal clans in Anbar, Salahuddin and Nineveh Province are declaring Nouri needs to listen to the protesters.    Al Jazeera reports:

 Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, reporting from Fallujah, said many had walked for hours to attend Friday's protest and had turned the highway into a mosque for the weekly prayers.
"Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is under increasing pressure to listen to their demands," she said, adding that a lot of the protesters, mostly young men, were unemployed and that a lot of them have been in jail.
"They feel they've been neglected by the Shia government," she said.


World Bulletin observes, "The protests are evolving in the most serious test yet for Maliki and his fragile government that splits posts among Shi'ite, Sunni and ethnic Kurds, who were already deadlocked over how to share power for more than a year."  In a report for the Christian Science Monitor, Jane Arraf explains:

The Anbar demonstrations began in December, with protesters demanding an end to perceived targeting of Sunni Muslims after the arrest of the Sunni finance minister’s bodyguards on terrorism charges. But it is the arrests of dozens of Iraqi women that have infuriated many in this fiercely tribal area. That anger has spread to Sunni areas in Baghdad and to provinces farther north, and both Al Qaeda in Iraq and mainstream political figures have been quick to join the fray.


Human Rights Watch's "Iraq: A Broken Justice System" was released yesterday and noted:


Most recently, in November, federal police invaded 11 homes in the town of al-Tajji, north of Baghdad, and detained 41 people, including 29 children, overnight in their homes. Sources close to the detainees, who requested anonymity, said police took 12 women and girls ages 11 to 60 to 6th Brigade headquarters and held them there for four days without charge. The sources said the police beat the women and tortured them with electric shocks and plastic bags placed over their heads until they began to suffocate.
Despite widespread outcry over abuse and rape of women in pre-trial detention, the government has not investigated or held the abusers accountable. In response to mass protests over the treatment of female detainees, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a pardon for 11 detainees. However, hundreds more women remain in detention, many of whom allege they have been tortured and have not had access to a proper defense.

On the topic of the call to release prisoners, this call has been a constant of the recent wave of protests and was also a part of the 2011 protests.  Iraqis disappear into the 'legal system' and their families can't find them.   Article IV allows the security forces to arrest relatives of suspects.  Relatives who are not charged with anything languish in detention centers and prisons.  The Sunni population feels they are especially targeted by Nouri -- both with regards to arrests and with regards to being put to death.


Dropping back to the November 12th snapshot:

Staying with violence, as noted in the October 15th snapshot, Iraq had already executed 119 people in 2012.  Time to add more to that total.  Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported last night that 10 more people were executed on Sunday ("nine Iraqis and one Egyptian").  Tawfeeq notes the Ministry of Justice's statement on the executions includes, "The Iraqi Justice Ministry carried out the executions by hanging 10 inmates after it was approved by the presidential council."  And, not noted in the report, that number's only going to climb.  A number of Saudi prisoners have been moved into Baghdad over the last weeks in anticipation of the prisoners being executed.  Hou Qiang (Xinhua) observes, "Increasing executions in Iraq sparked calls by the UN mission in the country, the European Union and human rights groups on Baghdad to abolish the capital punishment, criticizing the lack of transparency in the proceedings of the country's courts."


AFP reported yesterday that already this year Iraq has executed 91 people -- yes, we're still at the start of 2013 -- 88 men and 3 women.  The United Nations Secretary-General has personally called on Iraq to put in place a moratorium on executions but Nouri al-Maliki has rejected that.  Iraq's recent prison breaks have often been tied to executions.  Most press outlets (non-Iraqi) simply report that some death row prisoners escaped. But often, the escape follows the news that prisoners will be moved to Baghdad (to be executed). 


Today, All Iraq News adds that Nouri al-Maliki gave an interview where he insisted that all legitimate demands of the protesters will be listened to if they show patience.  Patience?  Like when he asked them to be patient in 2011 and give him 100 days to fix corruption and other problems.  100 day are finally over and he hasn't done a damn thing but lie and use his lies to get people off the street. 


It's gonna rain
It's gonna rain
It's gonna rain down tears
Of heartaches and fears
It's gonna rain
It's gonna rain
I know for sure
'Cause you don't reach for me no more
-- "Clouds," written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, first appears on Chaka Khan's Naughty album


Just like Nouri's going to solve the problems of the protesters, he's also heading a committee to solve the problems of the rainfall.


31 Jan
So much rain in , green zone cut off from rest of city by lake-size moat. Whatever will we do without them?
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Earlier week, Aswat al-Iraq reported people in the capitol were saying that "Baghdad was drowned in a lake of mud and dirty water."
All Iraq News notes that the highest rainfall in recent days has been in Tuz Khurmato.  That's in Salahuddin Province and that's the province, All Iraq News notes, where three villages are sinking.  2,000 homes have also sunk in Tikrit in what's being called "The Tikrit Disaster."  All Iraq News notes that a village in Salahuddin Province was threatened yesterday when a dam collapsed and that 1500 families have been relocated by the Iraqi Red Crescent Society due to the flooding.  Alsumaria speaks with Salahuddin Province Governor Ahmed Abdullah al-Jubouri who explains that in the entire province, 6000 families have been evacuated from their homes -- six-thousand families.  The flooding is due to the rain, yes, but it's also due to the fact that Nouri refuses to spend money to improve the sewers and other infrastructure.  So when heavy rains fall, the water pools.  It's not diverted anywhere, it doesn't drain.  When heavy rains fall for several days in a row -- as has happened this week -- you end up with serious problems.  For example, the Tigris River is flooding.  Alsumaria reports that Salah Abdul Razzuq, Governor of Baghdad, has called for citizens residing on and near the banks of the Tigris to evacuate their homes because the last two days alone has seen the river's water levels rise approximately 75%. 

Again, this is about Iraq's crumbling infrastructure.  Iraq is not a poor country.  What other country with less than 30 million people can claim a federal government budget of 100 billion in US dollars?  The money is there to fix the infrastructure and do other needed things.  It's just not being spent as it needs to be.  It just seems to go quickly into the bank accounts of various Iraqi figures.  100 billion dollars for 2012 in a country of less than 30 million? The government could have just given every citizen 3 million in US dollars and still had sizable pocket change. Instead, Kitabat reports that you can find everyone scavenging in Baghdad through the waste -- the standing waste.  Children dig through it hoping to find toys and adults dig through it looking for anything they might sell to bring in some needed income for their family.  This standing waste, in the country's capital, is an embarrassment and it's health menace.  For public health reasons alone, it should have been dealt with years ago.

Meanwhile Alsumaria notes an armed attack in a Mosul home that's left 1 Iraqi soldier dead.  On the topic of violence, it is the end of the month and Prashant Rao (AFP) Tweets:

11h
Iraq death toll spikes in January - data: The grim spreadsheet:
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Iraq Body Count tabulates 341 violent deaths in Iraq for the month of January.

We go back to Twitter for news of Iraqi Christians:

  1. 51m
    Vatican: Abp. Louis Sako elected Patriarch of the Chaledean Church... -
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Online at the official site, The Vatican's posted:

(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict XVI has granted ecclesiastical communion, in accordance with Canon 76 § 2 of the code of canons of the Eastern Churches to His Beatitude Raphael I Louis Sako, canonically elected Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans in the Synod of Bishops of the Church, held in Rome January 28, 2013.
The Synod of Bishops of the Chaldean Church, convoked by the Holy Father under the presidency of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, canonically elected the Archbishop of Kirkuk, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans on January 28th. The new patriarch succeeds Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, and has chosen the name of Louis Raphael Sako I".
Born in Zakho (Iraq) July 4, 1948, Patriarch Sako completed his primary studies in Mosul, before attending the local seminary of St. John, run by the Dominican Fathers.
Ordained a priest on June 1, 1974, he undertook the pastoral service at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. Sent to Rome, he attended the Pontifical Oriental Institute, receiving his doctorate in Eastern Patristics. He later received his doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris. On returning to Mosul in 1986, he was appointed parish priest of the Parish of Perpetual Help.
From 1997 to 2002 he held the office of Rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. He then returned to Mosul took over pastoral care of the Parish of Perpetual Help until the election as Archbishop of Kirkuk September 27, 2003. He received episcopal ordination on 14 November.
He has published several books on the Fathers of the Church and several articles.
Apart from Arabic and Chaldean, the Patriarch speaks German, French, English and Italian.More to follow...

Alsumaria covers the news and adds that Archbishop Sako is the author of over 200 articles and 20 books on religion and theology.   AFP covers the news here.  In 2000, the US Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services prepared a fact sheet entitled "Iraq: Chaldean Christians" which included the following:


Chaldean and Assyrian Christians have the same ethnic and linguistic background, though as Eastern Rite Catholics, Chaldeans recognize the primacy of the Roman Catholic Pope while Assyrian Christians, who are not Catholic, do not (Journalist 17 May 2000; Minority Rights Group International 1997, 346). The Assyrians and Chaldeans are non-Arab, though the Iraqi government defines them as Arab, purportedly to increase identification of Iraqi Christians with the largely Sunni-Arab regime in Baghdad. The Kurdish government in northern Iraq refers, at least to Assyrians, as Kurdish Christians (USDOS 9 Sept. 1999).
[. . .]
1994 figures state that 220,945 of Iraq's Christians are Chaldean, though this number may now be down to 200,000 (UK Immigration & Nationality Directorate Sept. 1999). News sources state that there are anywhere from 500,000 to two million Christians in Iraq, of which Chaldeans reportedly predominate (Associated Press 26 Dec. 1998; The Economist Intelligence Unit 10 Feb. 2000; Knight-Ridder Tribune News 18 Feb. 1998). The US Department of State cites "conservative estimates" which place over 95 percent of Iraq's population, estimated at 17,903,000 in 1991, as Muslim, while the remaining less than 5 percent is broken down among Christians, Yazidis, and Jews (9 Sept. 1999).


Turning to the United States where Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  Today her office issued the following:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 1, 2013
CONTACT: Murray Press Office
(202) 224-2834

Senator Murray's Statement on New VA Study on Veterans Suicides

(Washington, D.C.) -- Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray released the following statement after the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released a study that provides more accurate information on veterans suicides.  The two-year study incorporates information from 42 states and includes data on the suicide deaths of veterans who were not previously recorded because they had not sought care or benefits from VA.  This is an important advancement that will help VA better understand veterans mental health needs and do more to combat the epidemic of veteran suicides.  In August 2011 Senator Murray wrote to the National Governors Association urging Governors across the country to provide information to the VA to help them track the scope of veterans suicides.

"This data provides a fuller, more accurate, and sadly, an even more alarming picture of veteran suicide rates.  And while I am encouraged that VA has worked to collect the information needed to better understand the problem we face, this must lead to action.

"I encourage VA and DoD to quickly implement the Mental Health ACCESS act that I recently pushed through Congress and that was signed into law this month.  That law will help streamline and improve suicide prevention programs while offering veterans and their family's new avenues to mental health care.

"VA also needs to do mroe to quickly bring on additional mental health professionals to deal with the shortage veterans face, particularly in rural areas.  We cannot accept as unavoidable that VA facilities have month-long wait times for appointments or that at-risk veterans feel that they have nowhere to turn.

"We also need to do more to reach out to the families of veterans so that they recognize warning signs, know where to go for help, and have a support network of other veterans and their families to lean on.

"This must not only be a top priority for the VA, it has to be a top priority for the nation as a whole if we are going to begin to make progress in reversing this deeply troubling trend."
###
Matt McAlvanah
Communications Director
U.S. Senator Patty Murray
202-224-2834 - press office
202--224-0228 - direct
matt_mcalvanah@murray.senate.gov
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Yesterday we covered the Senate Armed Service Hearing on US President Barack Obama's nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense.  Last night, Wally reported on the hearing in "Hagel's all mushy (Wally)," Kat covered it with "Lindsay Graham" and Ava covered it with "Congress was as bad as the press today."  Yesterday, we noted Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was getting praised for a 19 word sentence and she didn't deserve praise.  Ruth's "Applause for Senator Blumenthal" report on Senator Richard Blumenthal and she included this exchange on assault:

Senator Richard Blumenthal:  And I would like the same kind of commitment that you've expressed very persuasively on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell on the issue of sexual assaults.  This issue bedevils the military.  I don't know whether you've seen an excellent documentary entitled The Invisible War?

 Chuck Hagel:  Yes.

 Senator Richard Blumenthal:  And I know you're familiar with this issue.  I commend you for what you've said to me privately.  And I would ask that your commitment not only to the prosecution and holding accountable people who are involved in this criminal conduct but also to the victims so that they receive the kind of services that in the civilian world, many of them do through victims' advocates in the courts and similar kinds of roles played.  So both to prosecution -- vigorous, zealous -- but also to protection of the victims, can you commit to that?

 Chuck Hagel:  Absolutely, I'll commit to that.


And now back to Iraq.  Various outlets today turned out the notion that al Qaeda in Iraq wanted to back the protesters and were calling for the protesters to take up arms.  Kitabat notes that the protesters rejected the notion.  MWC adds, "Protest organisers in Ramadi, Fallujah and elsewhere, however, said that they had no links to the group, and that they aimed to hold only peaceful demonstrations."





















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Protests across Iraq

Protests continue in Iraq today.  Alsumaria reports Falluja saw tens of thousands turn out today and they took to the international highway (that connects Baghdad to Jordan).  Kitabat notes today's protests are a tribute to the Falluja martyrs who were killed last week.

Friday, January 25th, Nouri al-Maliki's armed thugs in Falluja fired on protesters killing at least seven (Alsumaria reported Saturday that another of the victims has died from wounds raising the death toll from six to seven)  and sixty more were left injured. Today Kitabat reports four more victims of last Friday's violence have died bringing the death toll to 11.  Protesters in Falluja were marching and taking part in a sit-in when the military opened fire on them.  Anbar Province has sworn out arrest warrents for the soldiers.

All Iraq News notes that demonstrations also took place in Kirkuk with the protesters demanding the release of prisoners.  This has been a constant of the recent wave of protests and was also a part of the 2011 protests.  Iraqis disappear into the 'legal system' and their families can't find them.   Article IV allows the security forces to arrest relatives of suspects.  Relatives who are not charged with anything languish in detention centers and prisons.  The Sunni population feels they are especially targeted by Nouri -- both with regards to arrests and with regards to being put to death.

Dropping back to the November 12th snapshot:
Staying with violence, as noted in the October 15th snapshot, Iraq had already executed 119 people in 2012.  Time to add more to that total.  Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported last night that 10 more people were executed on Sunday ("nine Iraqis and one Egyptian").  Tawfeeq notes the Ministry of Justice's statement on the executions includes, "The Iraqi Justice Ministry carried out the executions by hanging 10 inmates after it was approved by the presidential council."  And, not noted in the report, that number's only going to climb.  A number of Saudi prisoners have been moved into Baghdad over the last weeks in anticipation of the prisoners being executed.  Hou Qiang (Xinhua) observes, "Increasing executions in Iraq sparked calls by the UN mission in the country, the European Union and human rights groups on Baghdad to abolish the capital punishment, criticizing the lack of transparency in the proceedings of the country's courts."

AFP reported yesterday that already this year Iraq has executed 91 people -- yes, we're still at the start of 2013 -- 88 men and 3 women.  The United Nations Secretary-General has personally called on Iraq to put in place a moratorium on executions but Nouri al-Maliki has rejected that.  Iraq's recent prison breaks have often been tied to executions.  Most press outlets (non-Iraqi) simply report that some death row prisoners escaped. But often, the escape follows the news that prisoners will be moved to Baghdad (to be executed).   On the prison issue,  Human Rights Watch's "Iraq: A Broken Justice System" was released yesterday and noted:

Most recently, in November, federal police invaded 11 homes in the town of al-Tajji, north of Baghdad, and detained 41 people, including 29 children, overnight in their homes. Sources close to the detainees, who requested anonymity, said police took 12 women and girls ages 11 to 60 to 6th Brigade headquarters and held them there for four days without charge. The sources said the police beat the women and tortured them with electric shocks and plastic bags placed over their heads until they began to suffocate.
Despite widespread outcry over abuse and rape of women in pre-trial detention, the government has not investigated or held the abusers accountable. In response to mass protests over the treatment of female detainees, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a pardon for 11 detainees. However, hundreds more women remain in detention, many of whom allege they have been tortured and have not had access to a proper defense.





  Dar Addustour notes that Nouri met for six hours mid-week with armed forces commanders to discuss/anticipate today's protests.  Kitabat notes that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis took part in protests today throughout Anbar Province, Kirkuk Province, Nineveh Province, Diyala Province and Salahuddin following morning prayers. Al Jazeera reports:

 Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, reporting from Fallujah, said many had walked for hours to attend Friday's protest and had turned the highway into a mosque for the weekly prayers.
"Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is under increasing pressure to listen to their demands," she said, adding that a lot of the protesters, mostly young men, were unemployed and that a lot of them have been in jail.
"They feel they've been neglected by the Shia government," she said.


All Iraq News adds that Nouri al-Maliki gave an interview where he insisted that all legitimate demands of the protesters will be listened to if they show patience.   World Bulletin observes, "The protests are evolving in the most serious test yet for Maliki and his fragile government that splits posts among Shi'ite, Sunni and ethnic Kurds, who were already deadlocked over how to share power for more than a year."

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani remains in Germany following his stroke in December.  AP quotes former US Ambassador Peter W. Galbraith stating, "One of the biggest problems with him being ill is that there is no check on al-Maliki.  Simply, al-Maliki respected him.  He felt he couldn't be quite as dictatorial in the presence of Talabani."




This note is appearing in both posts this morning. There are certain things we've helped with in the past.  "We" is Martha, Shirley, Eli, Beth, KeShawn, Jess, Dona, Jim, Kat, Ruth, Isaiah, Ava and myself.  For example, every election cycle -- since the reporting on Congressional hearings became a part of the Iraq snapshots -- results in e-mails from campaigns about when did ___ say that?  And that's fairly obvious -- or should be -- but we respond.  Sometimes even after being presented with the date and the fact that the hearing is streamable at whatever page it's archived at, we'll have another e-mail asking but when in the hearing?  So I'll get very quiet and try to think (if it's not obvious in the snapshot) was this the first round or second round of questioning?  And we'll reply to that.  If -- and this does happen -- an e-mail comes in after that asking, "No, at what time into the hearing is it said?" we just blow that e-mail off.  You need to be responsible enough to stream a hearing.  We're not here to spoonfeed you.  But because it is an election issue, we do answer prior to that point -- and have answered for the campaigns of Democratic, Republican, Green and Constitutional Party candidates.  And would for any other party.

Last night, as I worked through returning calls, I spoke to Shirley who was having a real headache with an e-mail.  A week ago at the site a link to an article didn't work.  That happens.  Sometimes a mistake is made, sometimes a link goes out.  But the person gave a date and Shirley went through all of that day's entries trying to find where the link was.  She shouldn't have had to do that and no one will in the future.  She found it and then attempted to answer the e-mail's request for a real link but it's an Arabic article and I'm the only one working the e-mails that reads Arabic. That's where she hit a wall.

This is the only answer "catbird" will get, by the way.  I told Shirley I appreciated the time she was taking but that this was wasting her time and I'd be explaining that in the morning.  It is not this site -- or any site's -- responsibility to track down a link for you.   In addition to a mistake being made by me or someone I'm dictating too, links can change.  We stopped using "Yahoo News" for several years after we learned that they ditched a report within 3 months.  If we were responsible for providing alternate links, there's a period of about fourteen months that we'd have to be responding on every day.  (We link to Yahoo columnists now but we still avoid linking to a Yahoo repost of an article from another outlet due to the past ;vanishing'.)

If you see a broken link in a 24-hour period -- within 24 hours of something going up here -- you can e-mail.  If it was that morning and I'm mentioning it in the snapshot later that day and your e-mail's red prior to that, the link will be changed.  But, no, we're not your link hunters and I'm not too bothered by the fact that, in something written a week ago, you can't use the link.

That's on any topic at all.  But catbird was writing about avian flu.  I typed "avian flu" and "Karbala" into a basic Google search and the death turned up on several results including one from the United Nations.  Why didn't someone who grasps how to e-mail think to do that?

 We are not Net For Dummies.  Repeating, we are not here to spoonfeed.  The public account has enough problems currently -- too many e-mails and last week's hacking.  We all have limited time.  Beth, for example, had a request from an author about a book review she'd done that was mentioned in the year-end-review on books.  He emailed wanting to know if she could get him a copy.  The e-mail was passed on to her by whomever saw it that day.  Beth hoped to find time to type up her review.  She found it in the gina & krista round-robin (they are PDF files), she kept hoping she'd have time.  Instead, she had her own birthday, she had the death of a co-worker and she had the death of a family member.  When we were on the phone Sunday, she said Sunday that she just wasn't going to be able to do it.  I said if she wanted my thoughts, I understood and just to forget about it but that if she was asking my permission she didn't need to bother.  I had nothing to do with the review and did not write the year-end look at books and was just glad the e-mail hadn't been sent to me or I would have felt like I had to make the time to type it up and send it. So I understand the guilt Beth felt.  But it's also true that Beth reviewed the book for the gina & krista round-robin -- a private conversation in a less-public sphere.  (Gina coined the tagline that, here at The Common Ills, this is a private converstaion in a public sphere.)  The newsletters are for members only and that allows me to bring in friends to participate in the roundtables and for the friends to know they can speak freely because it is private.  So a newsletter can't be forwarded to the book author either and Beth has no time to type it up.  Oh well.  That's life.  Her duty or obligation was to review it, she did that.  If she could do other things, fine.  If she can't, that's fine too.  Everyone has a busy life -- on both ends of this computer or cell phone or tablet screen.  When something can be done, we're happy to do so but no one answering the public e-mails is going to do research.  If one phone call -- to me or whomever -- can provide the information, that's one thing.  But people answering the public e-mail are not your research assistants. 
 


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





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