Sunday, June 01, 2014

Hejira

National Iraqi News Agency reports, "A military force arrested on Sunday one of the leaders of the popular movement, his father and two brothers in Nineveh."

Sunnis are targeted by Nouri.  They're arrested without warrants, they're held in jails and prisons without charges and/or without trials.  They're moved from prison to prison in an effort to disappear them leaving their families not knowing if their loved ones are alive or dead.

Sunni women and girls are raped and tortured in Iraqi jails and prisons.

That last detail?

It's was the thread that held together the protests that began in December of 2012 which continued for over a year.

Guardian readers would know about the rapes and torture.

Other readers?

Not so much.  That's especially true for those who rely on US publications.

The State Dept didn't want it addressed and neither did the US press.  A coincidence, to be sure, that both the US government and the US press chose to look the other way.

Now Nouri's using soldiers to arrest protest leaders?

Where's the US concern for the treatment of civilians?

Oh, right.  In Iraq, the US government doesn't give a damn how many Iraqi civilians are harmed or killed.

Nouri continues killing Iraqi civilians by bombing residential neighborhoods in Falluja.  NINA reports 4 civilians were killed today and seventeen more were injured.

The US press and the US government have both made the decision not to note these War Crimes which have been going on since the start of the year.

For the month of May, Iraq Body Count notes, "173 CIVILIANS KILLED BY GOVERNMENT FORCES IN FALLUJA."

 It's a slaughter.

 And where's the outcry in the US from the government or from the press?

 As we noted at Third earlier today, US Secretary of State John Kerry can sneer that NSA whistle-blower Ed Snowden needs to "man up" but Kerry's showing nothing but weakness by refusing to publicly address the hunting and killing of civilians in Falluja.  As Secretary of State, Kerry is over the US mission in Iraq so his silence on this matter goes to his failure in the job.

 The month of May has ended.  UNAMI issued the following today:
Baghdad, 1 June 2014 – According to casualty figures released today by UNAMI, a total of at least 799 Iraqis were killed and another 1,409 were injured in acts of terrorism and violence in May*.


The number of civilians killed was 603 (including 144 civilian police), while the number of civilians injured was 1108 (including 218 civilian police). A further 196 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed, and 301 were injured (not including casualties from Anbar operation).
“I strongly deplore the sustained level of violence and terrorist acts that continues rocking the country. I urge the political leaders to work swiftly for the formation of an inclusive government within the constitutionally mandated time frame and focus on a substantive solution to the situation in Anbar”, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG), Mr. Mladenov said.
Anbar excluded, Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 932 civilian casualties (315 killed, 617 injured), followed by Ninewa (113 killed 248 injured), Salahuddin (94 killed 146 injured), Kirkuk (22 Killed, 60 injured), Diyala (38 killed 28 injured). 
*CAVEATS: Data do not take into account casualties of the current IA operation in Anbar, for which we report at the bottom the figures received by our sources.

Operations in Anbar
According to information obtained by UNAMI from the Health Directorate in Anbar, the total civilian casualties in Anbar up to 30 May were 195 killed and 499 injured, with 95 killed and 222 injured in Ramadi and 100 killed and 277 injured in Fallujah.
June kicked off today and the violence continued.  Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) notes today's violence left 73 dead and fifty injured.  National Iraqi News Agency reports a Tuz Khurmato roadside bombing left five people injured, 2 people were shot dead in Abu Ghraib, 1 ex-officer in Nouri's SWAT force was shot dead in Basra, a Jurf al-Sakar battle left 3 Iraqi soldiers dead and four more injured, an Abu Ghraib roadside bombing injured one person, an al-Qadisiya bombing left 1 person dead and three people injured (plus a police dog was also left injured), a Tuz Khurmato home bombing left a wife and husband dead and five more people injured, 5 people (government and rebels) were killed in a Ramadi battle, 1 female college student was shot dead in Ramadi and six more students were left injured, and a Muhmudiya sticky bombing killed 1 Baghdad government worker.







I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
That shell shock love away
-- "Hejira," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her album of the same name

 The number of US service members the Dept of Defense states died in the Iraq War is [PDF format warning] 4489.


Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Plan" went up early this morning.  On 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) topics addressed include WikiLeaks, NSA spying, Jeremy Hammond and remembering Dr. Vincent Harding and General Gordon Baker Jr.


New content at Third:



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