The Common Ills: One of Nouri's own accuses him of plotting a coup

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

One of Nouri's own accuses him of plotting a coup

Violence continues in Iraq.

National Iraqi News Agency reports that a battle northeast of Baquba left 1 police officer and 1 member of the Iraqi forces dead while a corpse was discovered dumped northwest of Baghdad. Alsumaria also notes corpses: 41 of them found dumped near a cliff in Babylon Province. Alsumaria reports a Mahmudiyah roadside bombing left two people injured.

And in what passes for 'success,' Ahmed Rasheed (Reuters) notes Iraqi forces are planning another effort to retake the oil refinery in Baiji. Another. Another effort. And all these efforts take place -- all these efforts focused on an oil field -- while the Iraqi people suffer -- some still trapped on Mount Sinjar.

But no efforts have been made to stop the suffering. Instead, the Iraqi forces and their 'friends' (like the US) just keep dropping bombs. They believe this is a 'plan' and that it will accomplish something.

Thus far, it hasn't accomplished anything.

AFP reports:

As US-led warplanes pound jihadists in Iraq, prominent Sunni exiles say that empowering their marginalised minority will be more important than bombs and missiles in defeating the Islamic State extremist group.

Deadly sectarian tensions have riven Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein more than a decade ago, with Sunni anger at the Shiite-led authorities seen as a key factor behind the rise of IS.

Those aren't controversial statements and, at one time, US President Barack Obama made them all the time. These days, he's too focused on dropping bombs and trying to strong arm others into putting troops on the ground in Iraq. (No one's really agreed so far. But they're happy to join the bombing flyovers.)

In other news, Kitabat reports that MP Walid al-Hilli, a member of thug and former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law, declared in an interview today with Tigris TV that not only is Nouri still refusing to move out of the presidential palace (and let new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi move in) but Nouri's also plotting a military coup to return himself to power.

This comes as Iraq Times reveals a second complaint has been filed against Nouri over the 2012 assassination of former Basra Governor Mohammed al-Waeli. The al-Waeli family has long blamed Nouri for the assassination, spoke publicly about this and filed a complaint (which was buried) when Nouri was still prime minister. There is also a complaint against Nouri for bullying and threatening various members of the judiciary.

The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com and Jody Watley -- updated: