Three British community members e-mailed asking about an article and if I was going to weigh in? I planned to do so in yesterday's snapshot but there wasn't room.
Before I wade in and weigh in, I just want to note this.
The snapshots are supposed to be smaller. I'd planned that, I'd announced that.
I hadn't counted on Nouri al-Maliki assaulting Anbar Province.
That's the reason that no only are the snapshots still longer than I'd like them to be, but some this week have actually been the longest of any ever.
That extra space has not translated into covering additional topics. For example, this week's Law and Disorder Radio, an hour long program that airs Monday mornings at 9:00 a.m. EST on WBAI and around the country throughout the week, hosted by attorneys Heidi Boghosian, Michael S. Smith and Michael Ratner (Center for Constitutional Rights) had a really great interview with Professor Rick Wolff
and Dr. Harriet Fraad about their essays in Imagine: Living In A Socialist USA. I specifically wanted to note Harriet Fraad's last remarks before Michael Smith went back to Rick Wolff. There's been no room. If you haven't listened, make a point to listen to the interview.
We're spending time tonight again on the Brett McGurk appearance before Congress. I don't know if we'll finish it in tonight's snapshot. We may still need to come back on Monday or Tuesday. I don't know.
But the main focus has been Iraq -- Harriet did mention Iraq in passing and I might be able to work in a small thing from Law and Disorder in tonight's snapshot that way -- we're trying to point out as much as we can about what's going on. That includes covering the oh-so-rare Iraq hearings in Congress. In the old days, when we could get five or more hearings on Iraq a year, I didn't worry but in 2012, we barely got any. Now, when we do get a hearing on Iraq, it's covered in much more depth because they are so rare and because they matter.
Yesterday, The New Statesman published Burhan al-Chalabi's "Why the US should apologise for deaths in Iraq." al-Chalabi's a British citizen who left Iraq decades ago and became a British citizen decades ago (I believe he left Iraq before Saddam Hussein was a political factor, let alone president of Iraq).
I have several thoughts on the article.
The first would be, how dare you?
Anbar's being assaulted and innocents are dying and instead of trying to bring attention to that in the supposed left New Statesman, we've got yet another bulls**t article that doesn't illuminate what's going on in Iraq and that really has no bearing on today.
No bearing on today?
Should those responsible for the Iraq War apologize?
Sure.
Is that the most pressing issue as residential areas and mosques and hospitals in Anbar are bombed and shelled by Nouri's military?
No, it's really not.
It's a bit like asking, "Do you like me in this dress?" Asking that as someone next to you is bleeding to death.
Priorities, learn them.
Second, al-Chalabi is a British citizen publishing in a British magazine.
Talk about gall and ignorance.
Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal. I don't dispute that. This site has always called him that.
But we've also called out War Criminals John Howard (the forgotten axis of true evil) and Tony Blair -- the three men are responsible for the Iraq War. The US, the UK and Australia provided the largest number of troops to Iraq, the three leaders lied and sold an illegal war.
Did I miss Tony Blair's apology?
Repeating: al-Chalabi is a British citizen publishing in a British magazine.
Where is the call for Blair to apologize?
Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal. So is Tony Blair (former UK Prime Minister) and so is John Howard (former Australian Prime Minister).
I'm an American citizen.
As such, I don't shy from calling out the US government. That's the first one I need to call out when wrong doing takes place. That's what a democracy requires.
Were I to write a piece on Blair acting as though he alone started the Iraq War?
That would be chicken s**t.
If you can't call out your own, you're worthless.
The easiest thing in the world is to point a finger at others -- other countries, other leaders.
If you can't criticize your own for the same behavior you're a worthless coward.
John Howard is forgotten. And that frustrates him. He is very pissed that he has not received the 'credit' he believes he deserves. So I really don't care that much when he's overlooked outside Australia. I often assume he's overlooked intentionally because he's made it known how pissed he is for not getting his share of the 'glory' -- so the writer of a piece is having a little fun, meting out a little justice by ignoring Howard.
But Blair and Bully Boy Bush?
I don't know how you write, as a British citizen, in a British magazine, about how a leader who lied to start the Iraq War needs to apologize and that leader's not Tony Blair.
It's cowardly and pathetic.
Even more so if you grasp that War Criminal Blair parades around the world stage -- has even been given an official role (he's supposed to bring about Middle East peace) while Bully Boy Bush has largely found a rock to live under and rarely ventures out in public.
Are we on third or fourth?
At any rate, I also find it appalling that some idiot writes an article as though the violence has stopped. Or as though Barack Obama and Gordon Brown who both continued the Iraq War instead of immediately stopping it aren't also guilty.
Barack, for example, is arming Nouri in his current attack on the Sunnis in Iraq.
That's a violation of the Leahy Amendment and it's also a violation of international law.
I'm really tired of these pathetic types who notice that Iraq's suddenly back in the news and so they dust off their thoughts from five or six years ago (or more) and dash off a bad piece of writing that really has little bearing on the tragedy so many Iraqis are living through right now.
You want to talk The Erbil Agreement? That's why Iraq is worse now than it was in 2009.
But they don't want to talk about that.
They're immature brats who just want to stomp their feet about Bully Boy Bush.
Look, there's no crime I would put past him.
But Bully Boy Bush has been out of the White House (thank heavens) for over five years now.
I'm focused on what's taking place in Iraq today.
I'm fearful that Nouri's going to again prevent Anbar and Nineveh from voting -- as he did in the 2013 provincial elections. Yes, after international pressure, they were allowed to vote in June. The other provinces -- except for the KRG which votes on its own schedule in provincial elections and Kirkuk which Nouri prevented from voting -- voted in April.
Provincial elections are just for the province. Parliamentary elections are national elections and will determine who ends up prime minister.
Wait, sorry, stop laughing. Let me reword: Should determine who ends up prime minister.
Barack wasn't going to let the Iraqi people decide in 2010 and we saw that but The New Statesman never called that out.
And let's be really clear, this silence allows the slaughter today to take place.
There will not be free or fair elections unless everyone votes on the same day.
This is not a minor issue or one in the far off future.
Elections are supposed to take place April 30th.
But let's not talk about things that matter, let's obsess over Bully Boy Bush instead and pretend that everything's fine in Iraq.
I could continue. But the main point here is, idiots like al-Chalabi are distractions. He came along to feed the hate impulse, to distract everyone to pick up the torches and storm the village like it was 2005. Screaming for the head of the War Criminal Bush is a nostalgic pastime that is not only indulgent but puts the lives of the Iraqi people at risk.
Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal. That point was established years ago.
Can we try focusing on the attacks and assaults the Iraqi people are currently living under? The torture and rape of Iraqi girls and women in prisons and detention centers?
Or do we just want to masturbate to old hate fantasies?
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq
the new statesman
burhan al-chalabi
wbai
law and disorder radio
michael s. smith
heidi boghosian
michael ratner
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
