Tuesday's "Iraq snapshot" covered a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing and Wednesday's "Iraq snapshot" covered more of that hearing and also a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing. There were a few e-mails about that, specifically why the Senate received so little coverage?
I'm just not impressed.
I think the Senate committee is doing lousy work. I think that's partly due to it being phoned in and partly due to new members coming in under someone who doesn't know how to team build.
Socialist Bernie Sanders could have made history by doing a strong job as the Chair of the Committee. Instead, he's allowed the Committee to wither in every way possible.
Senator Patty Murray is not weak. She is also not someone who worries about being polite if the situation calls for strong talk.
I say that because she has and will call out Republicans -- by name or just those in the Senate in a blanket form.
But she'll also work with them. She'll work on legislation with them, she'll reach across the aisle. She was Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee before Bernie Sanders. Before Murray, Daniel Akaka was the Chair.
Akaka and Murray cared about the Committee working together.
Akaka fostered and encouraged comrade on the Committee. Murray could have coasted on Akaka's efforts. She didn't.
And Akaka and Murray had the respect of Democrats and Republicans on the Committee for that reason. There were bills that weren't the most pressing ones for them but that were huge for veterans in a Republican members' district. They went out of their way to assist that Republican because it helped their colleague and because it helped veterans.
That's not the way things go today.
And it's really hard to build a team spirit when every thing is one slam at a Republican after another.
First sentence right now on his website under week in review? "Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked an attempt to protect the rights
of women workers to company-sponsored health care benefits."
And it's like that every week.
Here's a reality Bernie will never grasp since he gets about one out of every two hundred bills he proposes passed. If you want something to pass, you have to work it.
The measure he's referring to needed four more votes to reach magic sixty.
If you don't know how to build consensus and/or to horse trade, you should probably find a career outside of Congress.
It's kind of a job requirement if you're a member of Congress.
Bernie's really good about flapping the gums.
Not as good as he once was.
But he's not good as a member of the Congress.
And he's a lousy Chair.
If Dems control the Senate after the next elections, it's said Bernie won't be Chair of the Veterans Committee.
The writing is on the wall but Bernie's apparently not only a lousy Chair, he's also illiterate.
I didn't start off disliking him as a Chair. I was rooting for him, I wanted him to succeed.
I wasn't a Bernie groupie.
I had already seen him sell out in the House. And heard the excuses which went like this: 'He has to do that or the Democrats will run someone against him!' And it was said if only Bernie could get into the Senate some day, he'd have a six year term and be able to show real leadership and bravery.
But that excuse went down the drain when Bernie finally got into the Senate.
He showed no backbone.
So I was never a Bernie groupie.
But I thought he would do well as Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
I thought, as a Socialist, he'd play fair. Wrong. Instead he appears to be the hyper-partisan individual, he appears to play hyper-partisan in order to convince Dems he's one of them.
And it's destroyed team spirit on the Committee.
I hoped he could turn it around.
Then came the VA scandal regarding the wait list.
He was an embarrassment.
Veterans were suffering and some were dying as a result of this scandal.
The hearing he called and held right after the scandal broke?
He might have gotten away with it if he'd shown leadership in addressing the scandal.
He showed no leadership.
So he's made himself a joke with veterans.
He earned it.
Veterans are suffering and dying due to a secret wait list and Bernie Sanders is chairing a hearing on sticking pins in your body.
I believe in acupuncture. I have and will utilize an acupuncturist if I have a bad headache that lasts over one day.
But that's not the issue.
The issue is that vets are suffering and dying and Bernie's off holding a hearing on alternative medicine.
If he'd followed that with a strong hearing on the scandal, I think some of the anger from veterans would have gone away.
But he couldn't be bothered.
Then he goes on CNN and is defending Eric Shinseki so much that Chris Cuomo points it out on air.
When CNN is noting that you are more committed to Shinseki than veterans, you've got a problem.
Bernie was Shinseki's biggest defender and kept insisting that if these rumors turned out to be true, he'd be all over this.
Well they're not rumors. They're confirmed. They were confirmed by reporters when Bernie was acting as though they hadn't been. They've since been confirmed by the US government.
Where's Bernie's apology?
He chose to stand with Shinseki -- not with veterans.
He kept insisting the allegations might be false. They weren't.
Not only has he refused to acknowledge his error, he's failed to show leadership on this issue.
He's a joke to veterans who attend the hearings.
But let's grasp what Bernie doesn't.
His job isn't to reach over and hold Eric Shinseki's cock.
His job is to represent the public -- as a Senator -- and veterans as the Chair of the Senate VA Committee. He somehow confused his role as Chair to mean he is the defender of the VA Secretary.
He's an embarrassment whose lost support of veterans and two leaders of two VSOs have already made clear to Democratic Party leadership that Bernie better not be back to chair again.
In May and June, here and at Third, I would talk about how Bernie could turn it around.
He never did.
It's really too late.
He's lost the trust of veterans, two VSO leaders are meeting with party leadership to ensure that someone else is named Chair (or Ranking Member if the Dems lose the Senate in the mid-terms).
I wanted him to succeed. He failed.
I'm not participating in his failure. By that I mean, I did make a point in the past -- most recently with the House -- to make it clear that my donations could dry up (to the Democratic Party) if a certain idiot was named Ranking Member. I wasn't the only one to do that. I was part of a large group of big donors who said, "Oh, hell no, _____ _____ is not going to be the Democratic leader of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. ___ _____ can't even speak the English language. We're going to let ______ _____ be the Committee leader so Democrats can be the joke of Congress?"
That I participated in.
But I'm not participating in the takedown of Bernie and very few people are.
He's done such a poor job that mass resistance to him is not needed.
I feel sorry for him because he's blown a great opportunity.
And the Committee's suffering and veterans are suffering.
It didn't have to be this way.
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] 4489.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq
i hate the war
the ballet
Saturday, July 19, 2014
UN Human Rights Report Confirms Government Surveillance Violates Privacy Rights
The ACLU issued the following this week:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – The United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights today issued a report, "The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age," the result of an investigation into the human rights implications of government surveillance programs around the world. Steven Watt, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Human Rights Program had the following reaction to the report’s findings:
"This report confirms what we have already known: that the U.S. government’s mass surveillance programs are inherently arbitrary and violate international obligations to protect the privacy of people everywhere. It also debunks many of the legal and policy justifications that the United States has advanced for its bulk surveillance operations. This report serves as a wake-up call to the Obama administration to put its words into action by putting in place privacy protections for people around the globe, as the administration has already expressly endorsed."
The report is due to be presented by the High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Human Rights Council at its next session in Geneva this September, and to the U.N. General Assembly in New York in October.
The UN report notes that "mass or 'bulk' surveillance programmes may […] be deemed to be arbitrary, even if they serve a legitimate aim and have been adopted on the basis of an accessible legal regime. In other words, it will not be enough that the measures are targeted to find certain needles in a haystack; the proper measure is the impact of the measures on the haystack, relative to the harm threatened; namely, whether the measure is necessary and proportionate."
The full UN report is available at:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session27/Documents/A.HRC.27.37_en.pdf
ACLU report on human right to privacy in the digital age is available at:
https://www.aclu.org/privacyrights
aclu
July 16, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – The United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights today issued a report, "The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age," the result of an investigation into the human rights implications of government surveillance programs around the world. Steven Watt, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Human Rights Program had the following reaction to the report’s findings:
"This report confirms what we have already known: that the U.S. government’s mass surveillance programs are inherently arbitrary and violate international obligations to protect the privacy of people everywhere. It also debunks many of the legal and policy justifications that the United States has advanced for its bulk surveillance operations. This report serves as a wake-up call to the Obama administration to put its words into action by putting in place privacy protections for people around the globe, as the administration has already expressly endorsed."
The report is due to be presented by the High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Human Rights Council at its next session in Geneva this September, and to the U.N. General Assembly in New York in October.
The UN report notes that "mass or 'bulk' surveillance programmes may […] be deemed to be arbitrary, even if they serve a legitimate aim and have been adopted on the basis of an accessible legal regime. In other words, it will not be enough that the measures are targeted to find certain needles in a haystack; the proper measure is the impact of the measures on the haystack, relative to the harm threatened; namely, whether the measure is necessary and proportionate."
The full UN report is available at:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session27/Documents/A.HRC.27.37_en.pdf
ACLU report on human right to privacy in the digital age is available at:
https://www.aclu.org/privacyrights
aclu
Women Veterans Tell Inspiring Stories
Disabled American Veterans issued the following:
Women Veterans Tell Inspiring Stories
Through an ongoing collaboration with DAV, the cable network INSP has begun broadcasting a series of video productions highlighting veterans and their inspiring stories.
The first of the “Unbroken Soldiers” series on INSP features DAV life member Christy Gardner, of Lewiston, Maine, who plays for the DAV-sponsored injured veterans hockey team, the USA Warriors. The second and third highlight DAV Transition Service Officer and Army combat veteran Naomi Mathis and renowned U. S. Air Force combat photographer and author Stacy Pearsall. All three women are a testament to the courage and strength of injured women veterans returning home and rebuilding their lives.
“The videos focus on the inspiring road to recovery each of these women walked after they were injured in service to our country,” said National Adjutant Marc Burgess. “We are thrilled with the partnership between INSP and DAV that allows us to recognize and commend the service and sacrifice of women veterans by sharing these incredible stories.”
Within the first three months following release, the videos were viewed in nearly 2 million households by an estimated 2.5 million people. Three additional videos focusing on different topics are expected to be added to the series later this year.
INSP as a cable network is available in 75 million homes. It ranks in the top 50 of all 300-plus cable networks for total viewers and in the top five for viewer retention. The network’s web channel, Moments.org, has garnered more than 1.3 million total views.
“We’re grateful we’ve been able to partner with DAV to bring more awareness to the inspiring stories of sacrifice and courage made by brave veterans through our ‘Moments’ stories,” said INSP CEO and Chairman David Cerullo. “These men and women are real heroes and deserve the thanks and appreciation of Americans everywhere. Our ‘Moments’ stories have touched the hearts of millions who watch INSP.”
Those not receiving INSP through their cable, telco or satellite provider can call and ask for INSP to be added to their channel lineup to watch these stories and other family-friendly programming.
Learn More Online
The three videos will run during commercial breaks on INSP and can be viewed at www.moments.org, or through the following direct links:
moments.org/unbroken-soldiers-stacy-pearsall/
moments.org/unbroken-soldiers-naomi-mathis/
moments.org/unbroken-soldiers-christy-gardner-moment- hope/
veterans
Iraq snapshot
Friday, July 18, 2014. Chaos and violence continue, Americans weigh in on possible continued involvement in Iraq, Nouri's forces have mastered their leader's habit of the empty boast, Iraq's minorities continue to suffer, and much more.
Pew Research notes the findings of their latest polls:
As violence and chaos spreads in Iraq, the public is wary of U.S. involvement in the country. A 55% majority says the United States does not have a responsibility to do something about the violence in Iraq; 39% do see a responsibility to act.
Overall public awareness of the situation in Iraq is high: 45% say they have heard a lot about the violence in Iraq and takeover of large parts of the country by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Covering the poll, Aaron Blake (Washington Post) offers, "The poll reinforces that Americans have very little appetite for any significant involvement in Iraq, with just 39 percent saying the United States has a responsibility to do 'something' about the violence there."
Iraqi thug and prime minister Nouri al-Maliki repeatedly refused to provide Iraqi Christians in Baghdad with the security needed. This was most obvious in the October 31, 2010 attack on Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad. Many Iraqi Christians fled the country. Many of those who stayed moved to northern Iraq which was considered to be more tolerant of and welcoming to Christians.
BBC News reports Christians are now fleeing the northern city of Mosul because the Islamic State has declared that Christians have one of two choices -- "convert to Islam or pa[y] a 'protection tax'." There is the third choice: Do neither and be slaughtered. They have until Saturday afternoon to leave, convert or face "the sword."
In response to the threats, Nickolay Mladenov Tweeted the following:
Mladenov is United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative in Iraq.
Hamdi Alkhshali and Shelby Lin Erdman (CNN) explain the warnings/threats were put into writing which was then "distributed in recent days to the leaders of the dwindling Christian minority in Iraq's second largest city." Reuters adds, "A resident of Mosul said the statement, issued in the name of the Islamic State in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, had been distributed on Thursday and read out in mosques." Al Jazeera notes that before the last few weeks, "Mosul's Christian community was estimated at 3,000. Many are believed to have already fled the city as part of an exodus of up to one-third of the population. Churches and Christian-owned shops in the city were reported smashed by those who fled." Press TV offers, "The United Nations said in a new report on Friday that at least 5,576 civilians have been killed and 11,665 others wounded in Iraq since January."
And the US State Dept issued the following statement:
Press Statement
John Kerry is the head of the US State Dept. Their equivalent in Iraq? Hoshyar Zebari heads the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs since July 13, 2003. July 11th, Nouri began making noises and, as usual, a stupid and craven western press dropped to all fours for Nouri and began treating Nouri's edicts as laws and facts. From that day's snapshot:
There are reports that Nouri's replaced Zebari.
No, he really hasn't and can't. Were he to nominate someone -- questionable with Iraq's caretaker state currently -- that person couldn't be confirmed because that requires the Parliament.
Now he did something similar in a previous time when a government hadn't yet formed. When he did that before, he took someone already confirmed by Parliament to the Cabinet and just taxed that person with additional duties and an additional office.
Deputy Prime Minister Hussain Shahristani has never been confirmed to head a Ministry so it's a stretch to call him "acting" or "interim" anything. You can call him "illegal" or "unconstitutional." But that's about it.
Rudaw speaks with Zebari today and the first issue they raise in the interview?
On whether he is still foreign minister of Iraq:
I am still the foreign minister of Iraq. He (Hussein Shahristani) has been appointed as acting (foreign minister). Based on the Iraqi constitution, removing ministers requires parliamentary approval. The prime minister or the council of ministers have no such authority.
So maybe in the future, the foreign press (including many Americans) could either tell the truth or just sit their tired asses down? The foreign press has lied about Iraq more than enough at this point in time?
For those who failed to grasp why their is a boycott in the Cabinet, we'll note this:
Whether the Kurds are boycotting Baghdad:
The decision of the (Kurdish) leadership is to take part in the political process. We have not boycotted the political process. Otherwise, the Kurdish members of parliament would not attend the parliament. Our withdrawal from the cabinet meetings resulted from Prime Minister Maliki's accusations against the Kurdistan Region of harboring IS (Islamic State) and al-Qaeda, and that Erbil has become a haven for terrorists. I personally told Maliki, ‘it’s a shame for you and us that we sit together and still make such accusations against us. For this reason we will not take part (in the government), so that the whole world knows about this.’ It is unacceptable to accuse your partner of terrorism and conspiracies. But we all (Kurdish) ministers united in our stance. We have not boycotted the government; we have only suspended our presence there. In the next step, we might leave the government and submit a mass resignation. Now, there are lots of pressures by the US and others. We have told everyone that we are Peshmergas in Baghdad, and with one phone call from our leadership we pack up and return to Kurdistan.
Nouri's verbal attack on the Kurds took place Wednesday, July 9th and we noted it in that day's Iraq snapshot and how outrageous it was. We returned to the topic July 10th when Gwen Ifill and The NewsHour (PBS) picked up the story to blame the Kurds for walking out of the Cabinet -- the 'news' program failed to cover Nouri declaring the Kurds terrorist.
Grasp please that Nouri's accusations did just that. It was not just an offensive statement to make, it was one that could kick in certain legal aspects.
Nouri's remarks were inflammatory and never should have been made.
Thanks to Gwen, we saw how a whorish western press repeatedly acts.
Nouri smears the Kurds as terrorists in his televised weekly address and The NewsHour ignores it. The next day they're 'interested' and treat the Kurdish response (the walkout) as the starting point and fail to note how offensive and outrageous Nouri's remarks were.
This is what they have done over and over and why there is blood on the hands of the US press.
They have whored for power, they have been stenographers jotting down Nouri's every word and presenting it as fact.
Willy is my child, he is my father
I would be his lady all my life
He says he'd love to live with me
But for an ancient injury
That has not healed
He said I feel once again
Like I gave my heart too soon
-- "Willy," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her Ladies of the Canyon.
As always, Joni can nail down the human condition better than anyone. But while we might have those feelings about a lover, it's really sad to grasp how the US press has had them about a tyrant and how easily those lyrics can be reworked:
Nouri is my child, he is my father
I would be his lady all my life . . .
Over and over the western press -- especially the American press -- has distorted and disguised reality in Iraq to benefit Nouri. When he went on his killing spree targeting Iraqi youth who were or were thought to be gay, the big press in the US ignored it.
Who made that story in the US?
The music press did.
And once they grabbed -- and thank goodness they did -- it forced other US news outlets who had ignored it for weeks and weeks to suddenly (and briefly) report on it.
If Barack Obama, US President, sent one of his Secretaries into schools to advocate to children and teenagers that gay people be killed? It would be huge news. If Barack then denied sending people in to do that? It would also be news. If, during Barack's denials, a copy of the information sheet -- on official government letterhead -- was printed by the press, it would be huge news.
Nouri is very lucky to have western groupies posing as reporters -- hey, Jane Arraf, we especially mean you -- who have repeatedly ignored real news stories because they would paint Nouri in a bad light.
Nouri is equally lucky that -- whether he's attacking the Kurds or Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi -- that the press never starts the story where it begins -- with Nouri's actions -- but drops in midstream so they can present Nouri as the injured and wronged party.
How did Iraq get to the point it is currently?
One reason is that the western press has coddled a tyrant and covered for him.
And it's not just the professional press. Scott Horton has spent most of 2009 to the present on his Antiwar Radio show endorsing Nouri. Joel Wing will never own his actions but the reality is he's been thrilled to attack and call out KRG President Massoud Barzani while writing fan fic about Nouri.
Apparently, it's okay with those and other Americans if Nouri tries to incite hate crimes against Iraqi gays and lesbians (and those wrongly thought to be gay or lesbian).
Apparently, a country's leader ordering his staff to go into the school system and repeat lies about gays and lesbians (they were called Satanists and vampires -- and this was on the official Iraqi government document that the Ministry of Interior handed out in the schools) isn't enough to rile up a Scott Horton or a Joel Wing.
They just don't care. They'll keep covering for their personal tyrant.
Last week, we saw it yet again as Nouri smeared the Kurds as terrorists.
And the western press wasn't interested but the next day when the Kurds walk out of the Cabinet, suddenly it's 'oh those bad Kurds!'
Nouri's actions have brought Iraq to the brink.
A whorish western press that has refused to hold Nouri accountable has allowed this to happen.
And they need to take responsibility for their actions.
In the summer of 2006, the whoring was obvious.
Nouri had already proven to be inept and a man of words and vanity and, yes, paranoia.
But the press was whoring for him. Even though he was attacking the press. His big solution for Iraq at that time was stealing an idea that others came up with and were already implementing (local control of protection) and silencing the press.
But when 'reporting' on this plan, one western outlet after another ignored Nouri's attempt to criminalize reporting. Only the BBC had the guts and integrity to include Nouri's assault on the press.
Over and over, Nouri's actions have been filtered by the press to remove his most extreme statements and actions so that US readers and audio and video news consumers will never grasp how out of control Nouri is, how criminal he is.
Unlike Nouri's temple whores, we've never played that game here.
Which has made the US government's exhaustion with Nouri so interesting in the last weeks. Even the White House is realizing that Nouri likely has to go -- no third term as prime minister for Nouri -- if Iraq is going to move forward.
This realization leaves the US press in a pickle because they've got to find a way to call out Nouri to be on the same 'team' as the White House but they've spent so long covering for him. (The editorial board of the New York Times has spent the last years calling Nouri out. They have been an exception among editorial boards and US columnists. On columnists, the only one with a real record of calling Nouri out has been the Philadelphia Inquirer's Trudy Rubin.)
The western press needs to be held accountable.
That includes those who hate Sunnis and think it's alright to act on their own prejudices. Amy Goodman does a two part segment on Iraq this week and never calls out Nouri? Never even notes the attack on the Kurds, Zebari or anything. But she does have time to let Patrick Cockburn foam at the mouth with his Saudi Arabia conspiracy talk. Patrick's Sunni hatred is widely known and documented in the Arab world. Amy Goodman wants to talk what's wrong in Iraq but, cheap whore that she is, that talk never gets to Nouri. Two segments on how awful Sunnis -- in Iraq and in neighboring countries -- are but no accountability for Nouri?
The problem is not just that Nouri is a despot and tyrant in the grand tradition of Augusto Pinochet, it's that the western press has refused to be honest about who and what he is.
Some in the US media lied because they're lazy and they're stupid. The inept are always with us. Others though? Some in the US lied about Nouri because they always lie to reflect the position of whomever occupies the White House. Others lied because they thought Nouri was their guy (a number of fringe radicals in the US fall under that category -- don't worry they know who they are). Others lied because in their S&M masturbation fantasies they need someone who dominates the US government and they've wrongly portrayed puppet Nouri as someone who stood up to the US government. Others lied because they're part of The Mighty Wurlitzer.
If you're late to the party on The Mighty Wurlitzer, you can refer to Carl Bernstein's 1977 expose "The CIA And The Media:"
In 1953, Joseph Alsop, then one of America’s leading syndicated columnists, went to the Philippines to cover an election. He did not go because he was asked to do so by his syndicate. He did not go because he was asked to do so by the newspapers that printed his column. He went at the request of the CIA.
Alsop is one of more than 400 American journalists who in the past twenty‑five years have secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency, according to documents on file at CIA headquarters. Some of these journalists’ relationships with the Agency were tacit; some were explicit. There was cooperation, accommodation and overlap. Journalists provided a full range of clandestine services—from simple intelligence gathering to serving as go‑betweens with spies in Communist countries. Reporters shared their notebooks with the CIA. Editors shared their staffs. Some of the journalists were Pulitzer Prize winners, distinguished reporters who considered themselves ambassadors without‑portfolio for their country. Most were less exalted: foreign correspondents who found that their association with the Agency helped their work; stringers and freelancers who were as interested in the derring‑do of the spy business as in filing articles; and, the smallest category, full‑time CIA employees masquerading as journalists abroad. In many instances, CIA documents show, journalists were engaged to perform tasks for the CIA with the consent of the managements of America’s leading news organizations.
The CIA's connections to Nouri run deep and their argument for him, in 2006, included their assessment that Nouri was deeply paranoid (he is, we first noted it here the same year) and his paranoia would make him easy to control.
Again, he is this decade's Augusto Pinochet.
In other tales of the press treating the outrageous as normal . . .
December 2012, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke. The incident took place late on December 17, 2012 following Jalal's argument with Iraq's prime minister and chief thug Nouri al-Maliki (see the December 18, 2012 snapshot). Jalal was admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20, 2012, he was moved to Germany. He remains in Germany currently.
The latest spin is that he will return to Iraq on Saturday. If he does, it will be one year and seven months later. If he does, it will not be for the good of Iraq and Iraqis but because the Talabani family wants to maintain their hold on the PUK political party. Rudaw reports:
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has officially submitted its candidate for Iraq’s presidency, as politicians desperately struggle to put together a government in the middle of a Sunni rebellion and militant control of a third of Iraq.
Sources told Rudaw that the PUK has chosen Fuad Massoum, who is from Halabja, as a compromise candidate. But that was not immediately confirmed. Massoum is a long-time associate of Jalal Talabani, the PUK leader and Iraqi president who has been in Germany since a stroke in December 2012.
Jalal's been fine hiding out in Germany.
And the western press has been fine with treating this as normal.
Despite the fact that January 2013 should have seen Jalal return to Iraq or be stripped of his post.
The presidency can not be vacant. The Constitution makes it clear that if a president is to ill to carry out the duties of the office, the person is replaced.
His wife and the rest of his family publicly lied, repeatedly claiming Jalal would return in a few weeks. They began pimping that lie in January of 2013 in order to ward off cries for Talabani to be replaced.
As Iraq has faced one crises after another, it's done so without the help or aid of Jalal Talabani. He should have been stripped of his post.
If he does return Saturday, he returns under a cloud. He has brought shame to the nation and allowed his only desires to trump what was good for Iraq.
Iraq needed a president and Jalal deprived the country of that for 19 months.
Turning to the topic of violence, Mitchell Prothero (McClatchy Newspapers) reports:
Islamic State gunmen overran a former U.S. military base early Friday and killed or captured hundreds of Iraqi government troops who’d been trying to retake Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, the worst military reversal Iraqi troops have suffered since the Islamist forces captured nearly half the country last month.
The defeat brought to an end a three-week campaign by the government in Baghdad to recapture Tikrit, which fell to the Islamic State on June 11. Military spokesmen earlier this week had confidently announced a final push to recapture the city.
In addition, National Iraqi News Agency notes today's violence also includes a Kirkuk roadside bombing which left two people injured, a battle in al-Dhuluiya left 8 rebels dead, a Sinjar battle left 6 rebels dead, an Albu Gleb attack left 6 rebels dead, Jurf al-Sakhar battles left 23 rebels dead, and Nouri's continued bombing of civilian targets in Falluja left al-Furqan mosque cleric Sheikh Mohammed Kadhim injured and his home and the homes of others damaged.
We'll close with this from BRussells Tribunal:
The use of air strikes allegedly in order to fight terrorism is also a failed strategy. This policy has led to the indiscriminate killing of thousands of innocent civilians and the destruction of their homes .The US occupation tried it and the subsequent Green Zone governments of Iraq also tried it. Even as all observers agree that the solution in Iraq is not a military one, the US, Iran and others rush to aid Maliki with weapons and personnel. This strategy acts as a hatching machine for hatred and resentment as a result of the wholesale criminalisation of communities. We urge you therefore to speak up against the bombing of Iraqi villages, towns and cities.
One of the main reasons for the peaceful protests that began in Fallujah, Anbar, Tikrit, Mosul and other places in December 2012 was the news that women, arrested arbitrarily in lieu of their men folk, were being tortured and raped in detention. The peaceful protesters had well documented, clear demands starting with the release of all female detainees, the cancelling of article 4 of the Terrorism Law which is often used as a pretext for arbitrary arrests/torture and rape (see HRW report No One is Safe), the repeal the de-baathification decree introduced by Paul Bremer, and an end to all sectarian/ethnic discrimination and the rejection of partition of the country. The government met the peaceful protests with bombs and even massacres,) including the assassination of unarmed and injured protesters.
(7) “Maliki never appointed a permanent, parliament-confirmed interior minister, nor a defense minister, nor an intelligence chief. Instead, he took the positions for himself.” “In short, Maliki’s one-man, one-Dawa-party Iraq looks a lot like [Saddam]Hussein’s one-man, one-Baath Party Iraq. But at least Hussein helped contain a strategic American enemy: Iran. And Washington didn’t spend $1 trillion propping him up. There is not much “democracy” left if one man and one party with close links to Iran control the judiciary, police, army, intelligence services, oil revenue, treasury and the central bank. Under these circumstances, renewed ethno-sectarian civil war in Iraq was not a possibility. It was a certainty” - Why we stuck with Maliki — and lost Iraq http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-we-stuck-with-maliki--and-lost-iraq/2014/07/03/0dd6a8a4-f7ec-11e3-a606-946fd632f9f1_story.html
(8)The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials state that security forces in policing situations shall “apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms.http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/03/iraq-investigate-violence-protest-camp Iraq: Investigate Violence at Protest Camp Fighting Erupts in Anbar Province After Security Forces, Protesters Clash.
iraq
the washington post
aaron blake
cnn
national iraq news agency
all iraq news
alsumaria
antiwar.com
margaret griffis
joni mitchell
carl bernstein
mcclatchy newspapers
mitchell prothero
Pew Research notes the findings of their latest polls:
As violence and chaos spreads in Iraq, the public is wary of U.S. involvement in the country. A 55% majority says the United States does not have a responsibility to do something about the violence in Iraq; 39% do see a responsibility to act.
Overall public awareness of the situation in Iraq is high: 45% say they have heard a lot about the violence in Iraq and takeover of large parts of the country by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Covering the poll, Aaron Blake (Washington Post) offers, "The poll reinforces that Americans have very little appetite for any significant involvement in Iraq, with just 39 percent saying the United States has a responsibility to do 'something' about the violence there."
Iraqi thug and prime minister Nouri al-Maliki repeatedly refused to provide Iraqi Christians in Baghdad with the security needed. This was most obvious in the October 31, 2010 attack on Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad. Many Iraqi Christians fled the country. Many of those who stayed moved to northern Iraq which was considered to be more tolerant of and welcoming to Christians.
BBC News reports Christians are now fleeing the northern city of Mosul because the Islamic State has declared that Christians have one of two choices -- "convert to Islam or pa[y] a 'protection tax'." There is the third choice: Do neither and be slaughtered. They have until Saturday afternoon to leave, convert or face "the sword."
In response to the threats, Nickolay Mladenov Tweeted the following:
Any persecution of minorities may constitute a crime against humanity, we urge all sides to protect civilians http://aje.me/1lbCzvQ @UNIraq
Mladenov is United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative in Iraq.
Hamdi Alkhshali and Shelby Lin Erdman (CNN) explain the warnings/threats were put into writing which was then "distributed in recent days to the leaders of the dwindling Christian minority in Iraq's second largest city." Reuters adds, "A resident of Mosul said the statement, issued in the name of the Islamic State in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, had been distributed on Thursday and read out in mosques." Al Jazeera notes that before the last few weeks, "Mosul's Christian community was estimated at 3,000. Many are believed to have already fled the city as part of an exodus of up to one-third of the population. Churches and Christian-owned shops in the city were reported smashed by those who fled." Press TV offers, "The United Nations said in a new report on Friday that at least 5,576 civilians have been killed and 11,665 others wounded in Iraq since January."
And the US State Dept issued the following statement:
Press Statement
Jen Psaki
Washington, DC
July 18, 2014
The United States condemns in the strongest
terms the systematic persecution of ethnic and religious minorities by
the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). We are
outraged by ISIL’s recent announcement that Christians in Mosul must
either convert, pay a tax, leave, or face execution in the coming days.
We have also seen photos of reportedly Christian houses in Mosul marked
with pejorative terms for Christians, as well as reports that Shia and
Shabak houses have been similarly marked. ISIL also continues to target
Sunni clerics and tribal sheikhs who disagree with its dark vision for
Iraq.
These abominable actions only further demonstrate ISIL’s mission to divide and destroy Iraq and contradict Islam’s spirit of tolerance and peaceful co-existence. It should be clear that ISIL is not only a threat to the stability of Iraq, but a threat to the entire region. This growing threat exemplifies the need for Iraqis from all communities to work together to confront this common enemy and to take all possible steps to isolate these militant groups from the broader population.
We encourage government officials in Baghdad and Erbil to take every possible effort to assist Iraq’s vulnerable populations and hold perpetrators accountable for their actions in a manner consistent with the rule of law. The United States stands with all the Iraqi people against the threat from ISIL.
These abominable actions only further demonstrate ISIL’s mission to divide and destroy Iraq and contradict Islam’s spirit of tolerance and peaceful co-existence. It should be clear that ISIL is not only a threat to the stability of Iraq, but a threat to the entire region. This growing threat exemplifies the need for Iraqis from all communities to work together to confront this common enemy and to take all possible steps to isolate these militant groups from the broader population.
We encourage government officials in Baghdad and Erbil to take every possible effort to assist Iraq’s vulnerable populations and hold perpetrators accountable for their actions in a manner consistent with the rule of law. The United States stands with all the Iraqi people against the threat from ISIL.
John Kerry is the head of the US State Dept. Their equivalent in Iraq? Hoshyar Zebari heads the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs since July 13, 2003. July 11th, Nouri began making noises and, as usual, a stupid and craven western press dropped to all fours for Nouri and began treating Nouri's edicts as laws and facts. From that day's snapshot:
There are reports that Nouri's replaced Zebari.
No, he really hasn't and can't. Were he to nominate someone -- questionable with Iraq's caretaker state currently -- that person couldn't be confirmed because that requires the Parliament.
Now he did something similar in a previous time when a government hadn't yet formed. When he did that before, he took someone already confirmed by Parliament to the Cabinet and just taxed that person with additional duties and an additional office.
Deputy Prime Minister Hussain Shahristani has never been confirmed to head a Ministry so it's a stretch to call him "acting" or "interim" anything. You can call him "illegal" or "unconstitutional." But that's about it.
Rudaw speaks with Zebari today and the first issue they raise in the interview?
On whether he is still foreign minister of Iraq:
I am still the foreign minister of Iraq. He (Hussein Shahristani) has been appointed as acting (foreign minister). Based on the Iraqi constitution, removing ministers requires parliamentary approval. The prime minister or the council of ministers have no such authority.
So maybe in the future, the foreign press (including many Americans) could either tell the truth or just sit their tired asses down? The foreign press has lied about Iraq more than enough at this point in time?
For those who failed to grasp why their is a boycott in the Cabinet, we'll note this:
Whether the Kurds are boycotting Baghdad:
The decision of the (Kurdish) leadership is to take part in the political process. We have not boycotted the political process. Otherwise, the Kurdish members of parliament would not attend the parliament. Our withdrawal from the cabinet meetings resulted from Prime Minister Maliki's accusations against the Kurdistan Region of harboring IS (Islamic State) and al-Qaeda, and that Erbil has become a haven for terrorists. I personally told Maliki, ‘it’s a shame for you and us that we sit together and still make such accusations against us. For this reason we will not take part (in the government), so that the whole world knows about this.’ It is unacceptable to accuse your partner of terrorism and conspiracies. But we all (Kurdish) ministers united in our stance. We have not boycotted the government; we have only suspended our presence there. In the next step, we might leave the government and submit a mass resignation. Now, there are lots of pressures by the US and others. We have told everyone that we are Peshmergas in Baghdad, and with one phone call from our leadership we pack up and return to Kurdistan.
Nouri's verbal attack on the Kurds took place Wednesday, July 9th and we noted it in that day's Iraq snapshot and how outrageous it was. We returned to the topic July 10th when Gwen Ifill and The NewsHour (PBS) picked up the story to blame the Kurds for walking out of the Cabinet -- the 'news' program failed to cover Nouri declaring the Kurds terrorist.
Grasp please that Nouri's accusations did just that. It was not just an offensive statement to make, it was one that could kick in certain legal aspects.
Nouri's remarks were inflammatory and never should have been made.
Thanks to Gwen, we saw how a whorish western press repeatedly acts.
Nouri smears the Kurds as terrorists in his televised weekly address and The NewsHour ignores it. The next day they're 'interested' and treat the Kurdish response (the walkout) as the starting point and fail to note how offensive and outrageous Nouri's remarks were.
This is what they have done over and over and why there is blood on the hands of the US press.
They have whored for power, they have been stenographers jotting down Nouri's every word and presenting it as fact.
Willy is my child, he is my father
I would be his lady all my life
He says he'd love to live with me
But for an ancient injury
That has not healed
He said I feel once again
Like I gave my heart too soon
-- "Willy," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her Ladies of the Canyon.
As always, Joni can nail down the human condition better than anyone. But while we might have those feelings about a lover, it's really sad to grasp how the US press has had them about a tyrant and how easily those lyrics can be reworked:
Nouri is my child, he is my father
I would be his lady all my life . . .
Over and over the western press -- especially the American press -- has distorted and disguised reality in Iraq to benefit Nouri. When he went on his killing spree targeting Iraqi youth who were or were thought to be gay, the big press in the US ignored it.
Who made that story in the US?
The music press did.
And once they grabbed -- and thank goodness they did -- it forced other US news outlets who had ignored it for weeks and weeks to suddenly (and briefly) report on it.
If Barack Obama, US President, sent one of his Secretaries into schools to advocate to children and teenagers that gay people be killed? It would be huge news. If Barack then denied sending people in to do that? It would also be news. If, during Barack's denials, a copy of the information sheet -- on official government letterhead -- was printed by the press, it would be huge news.
Nouri is very lucky to have western groupies posing as reporters -- hey, Jane Arraf, we especially mean you -- who have repeatedly ignored real news stories because they would paint Nouri in a bad light.
Nouri is equally lucky that -- whether he's attacking the Kurds or Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi -- that the press never starts the story where it begins -- with Nouri's actions -- but drops in midstream so they can present Nouri as the injured and wronged party.
How did Iraq get to the point it is currently?
One reason is that the western press has coddled a tyrant and covered for him.
And it's not just the professional press. Scott Horton has spent most of 2009 to the present on his Antiwar Radio show endorsing Nouri. Joel Wing will never own his actions but the reality is he's been thrilled to attack and call out KRG President Massoud Barzani while writing fan fic about Nouri.
Apparently, it's okay with those and other Americans if Nouri tries to incite hate crimes against Iraqi gays and lesbians (and those wrongly thought to be gay or lesbian).
Apparently, a country's leader ordering his staff to go into the school system and repeat lies about gays and lesbians (they were called Satanists and vampires -- and this was on the official Iraqi government document that the Ministry of Interior handed out in the schools) isn't enough to rile up a Scott Horton or a Joel Wing.
They just don't care. They'll keep covering for their personal tyrant.
Last week, we saw it yet again as Nouri smeared the Kurds as terrorists.
And the western press wasn't interested but the next day when the Kurds walk out of the Cabinet, suddenly it's 'oh those bad Kurds!'
Nouri's actions have brought Iraq to the brink.
A whorish western press that has refused to hold Nouri accountable has allowed this to happen.
And they need to take responsibility for their actions.
In the summer of 2006, the whoring was obvious.
Nouri had already proven to be inept and a man of words and vanity and, yes, paranoia.
But the press was whoring for him. Even though he was attacking the press. His big solution for Iraq at that time was stealing an idea that others came up with and were already implementing (local control of protection) and silencing the press.
But when 'reporting' on this plan, one western outlet after another ignored Nouri's attempt to criminalize reporting. Only the BBC had the guts and integrity to include Nouri's assault on the press.
Over and over, Nouri's actions have been filtered by the press to remove his most extreme statements and actions so that US readers and audio and video news consumers will never grasp how out of control Nouri is, how criminal he is.
Unlike Nouri's temple whores, we've never played that game here.
Which has made the US government's exhaustion with Nouri so interesting in the last weeks. Even the White House is realizing that Nouri likely has to go -- no third term as prime minister for Nouri -- if Iraq is going to move forward.
This realization leaves the US press in a pickle because they've got to find a way to call out Nouri to be on the same 'team' as the White House but they've spent so long covering for him. (The editorial board of the New York Times has spent the last years calling Nouri out. They have been an exception among editorial boards and US columnists. On columnists, the only one with a real record of calling Nouri out has been the Philadelphia Inquirer's Trudy Rubin.)
The western press needs to be held accountable.
That includes those who hate Sunnis and think it's alright to act on their own prejudices. Amy Goodman does a two part segment on Iraq this week and never calls out Nouri? Never even notes the attack on the Kurds, Zebari or anything. But she does have time to let Patrick Cockburn foam at the mouth with his Saudi Arabia conspiracy talk. Patrick's Sunni hatred is widely known and documented in the Arab world. Amy Goodman wants to talk what's wrong in Iraq but, cheap whore that she is, that talk never gets to Nouri. Two segments on how awful Sunnis -- in Iraq and in neighboring countries -- are but no accountability for Nouri?
The problem is not just that Nouri is a despot and tyrant in the grand tradition of Augusto Pinochet, it's that the western press has refused to be honest about who and what he is.
Some in the US media lied because they're lazy and they're stupid. The inept are always with us. Others though? Some in the US lied about Nouri because they always lie to reflect the position of whomever occupies the White House. Others lied because they thought Nouri was their guy (a number of fringe radicals in the US fall under that category -- don't worry they know who they are). Others lied because in their S&M masturbation fantasies they need someone who dominates the US government and they've wrongly portrayed puppet Nouri as someone who stood up to the US government. Others lied because they're part of The Mighty Wurlitzer.
If you're late to the party on The Mighty Wurlitzer, you can refer to Carl Bernstein's 1977 expose "The CIA And The Media:"
In 1953, Joseph Alsop, then one of America’s leading syndicated columnists, went to the Philippines to cover an election. He did not go because he was asked to do so by his syndicate. He did not go because he was asked to do so by the newspapers that printed his column. He went at the request of the CIA.
Alsop is one of more than 400 American journalists who in the past twenty‑five years have secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency, according to documents on file at CIA headquarters. Some of these journalists’ relationships with the Agency were tacit; some were explicit. There was cooperation, accommodation and overlap. Journalists provided a full range of clandestine services—from simple intelligence gathering to serving as go‑betweens with spies in Communist countries. Reporters shared their notebooks with the CIA. Editors shared their staffs. Some of the journalists were Pulitzer Prize winners, distinguished reporters who considered themselves ambassadors without‑portfolio for their country. Most were less exalted: foreign correspondents who found that their association with the Agency helped their work; stringers and freelancers who were as interested in the derring‑do of the spy business as in filing articles; and, the smallest category, full‑time CIA employees masquerading as journalists abroad. In many instances, CIA documents show, journalists were engaged to perform tasks for the CIA with the consent of the managements of America’s leading news organizations.
The CIA's connections to Nouri run deep and their argument for him, in 2006, included their assessment that Nouri was deeply paranoid (he is, we first noted it here the same year) and his paranoia would make him easy to control.
Again, he is this decade's Augusto Pinochet.
In other tales of the press treating the outrageous as normal . . .
December 2012, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke. The incident took place late on December 17, 2012 following Jalal's argument with Iraq's prime minister and chief thug Nouri al-Maliki (see the December 18, 2012 snapshot). Jalal was admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20, 2012, he was moved to Germany. He remains in Germany currently.
The latest spin is that he will return to Iraq on Saturday. If he does, it will be one year and seven months later. If he does, it will not be for the good of Iraq and Iraqis but because the Talabani family wants to maintain their hold on the PUK political party. Rudaw reports:
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has officially submitted its candidate for Iraq’s presidency, as politicians desperately struggle to put together a government in the middle of a Sunni rebellion and militant control of a third of Iraq.
Sources told Rudaw that the PUK has chosen Fuad Massoum, who is from Halabja, as a compromise candidate. But that was not immediately confirmed. Massoum is a long-time associate of Jalal Talabani, the PUK leader and Iraqi president who has been in Germany since a stroke in December 2012.
Jalal's been fine hiding out in Germany.
And the western press has been fine with treating this as normal.
Despite the fact that January 2013 should have seen Jalal return to Iraq or be stripped of his post.
The presidency can not be vacant. The Constitution makes it clear that if a president is to ill to carry out the duties of the office, the person is replaced.
His wife and the rest of his family publicly lied, repeatedly claiming Jalal would return in a few weeks. They began pimping that lie in January of 2013 in order to ward off cries for Talabani to be replaced.
As Iraq has faced one crises after another, it's done so without the help or aid of Jalal Talabani. He should have been stripped of his post.
If he does return Saturday, he returns under a cloud. He has brought shame to the nation and allowed his only desires to trump what was good for Iraq.
Iraq needed a president and Jalal deprived the country of that for 19 months.
Turning to the topic of violence, Mitchell Prothero (McClatchy Newspapers) reports:
Islamic State gunmen overran a former U.S. military base early Friday and killed or captured hundreds of Iraqi government troops who’d been trying to retake Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, the worst military reversal Iraqi troops have suffered since the Islamist forces captured nearly half the country last month.
The defeat brought to an end a three-week campaign by the government in Baghdad to recapture Tikrit, which fell to the Islamic State on June 11. Military spokesmen earlier this week had confidently announced a final push to recapture the city.
In addition, National Iraqi News Agency notes today's violence also includes a Kirkuk roadside bombing which left two people injured, a battle in al-Dhuluiya left 8 rebels dead, a Sinjar battle left 6 rebels dead, an Albu Gleb attack left 6 rebels dead, Jurf al-Sakhar battles left 23 rebels dead, and Nouri's continued bombing of civilian targets in Falluja left al-Furqan mosque cleric Sheikh Mohammed Kadhim injured and his home and the homes of others damaged.
We'll close with this from BRussells Tribunal:
The EU has moral and legal obligations towards Iraq after
several of its member states ignored the warnings of the anti-war voices not to
attack the country in 2003.
On the occasion of the meeting on Iraq in the European
Parliament on July 16th 2014
Open letter to Members of the European Parliament
On the occasion of the meeting on Iraq in the European Parliament on July 16th 2014
The EU has moral and legal obligations towards Iraq after several of its
member states ignored the warnings of the anti-war voices not to attack the
country in 2003.
The failure to protect the ordinary citizens of Iraq, the deliberate harm
inflicted on certain communities as well as the gross human rights violations
being committed by the Iraqi government’s forces on a daily basis with total
impunity have been met with silence. According to Human Rights Watch 255 Sunni
prisoners were murdered mainly by militia supporting prison guards in the last
four weeks. All detainees must be protected immediately!
The reality of the situation is bleak: Prime Minister Maliki has built an
authoritarian state where ruthless paramilitary groups such as Assaib Ahel Al
Haq have more military weight than the regular army. These sectarian militias
are given a free hand to terrorise communities, to commit kidnapping, to torture
and to carry out extra judicial killings with impunity. The militias have been
carrying out sectarian cleansing in Baghdad against the Sunnis, as reported by
the media and NGOs. It is Maliki´s policies of discrimination, repression and
exclusion that also bears responsibility for the increase of acts of terrorism
by sectarian groups like ISIS. Neither Maliki nor his allies are really fighting
terrorism but rather are using them as a pretext for their policies. These
attempts are doomed to failure and have only alienated and terrorised even more
communities.. Only the Iraqi people, united in defence of their nation, can
defeat terrorism.
There are tens of other armed groups and militias - some of them linked to
the Prime Minister's Office - that are involved in indiscriminate killings and
are responsible for creating a sectarian bloodbath in Iraq. The national,
non-sectarian forces leading the uprising against Maliki have strongly
condemned, as we do, all terrorist actions.The use of air strikes allegedly in order to fight terrorism is also a failed strategy. This policy has led to the indiscriminate killing of thousands of innocent civilians and the destruction of their homes .The US occupation tried it and the subsequent Green Zone governments of Iraq also tried it. Even as all observers agree that the solution in Iraq is not a military one, the US, Iran and others rush to aid Maliki with weapons and personnel. This strategy acts as a hatching machine for hatred and resentment as a result of the wholesale criminalisation of communities. We urge you therefore to speak up against the bombing of Iraqi villages, towns and cities.
One of the main reasons for the peaceful protests that began in Fallujah, Anbar, Tikrit, Mosul and other places in December 2012 was the news that women, arrested arbitrarily in lieu of their men folk, were being tortured and raped in detention. The peaceful protesters had well documented, clear demands starting with the release of all female detainees, the cancelling of article 4 of the Terrorism Law which is often used as a pretext for arbitrary arrests/torture and rape (see HRW report No One is Safe), the repeal the de-baathification decree introduced by Paul Bremer, and an end to all sectarian/ethnic discrimination and the rejection of partition of the country. The government met the peaceful protests with bombs and even massacres,) including the assassination of unarmed and injured protesters.
We call for :
1) the immediate ban on the flow of arms to Maliki's government.
2) a halt all airstrikes and military operations in Iraqi towns and cities.
3) the creation of safe corridors to deliver aid and humanitarian supplies to the civilians in areas of conflict.
4) an end to all measures of collective punishments such as the cutting off of water/electricity/withholding food stuffs and payment of salaries.
5) the protection of prisoners, the release all detainees not charged or tried and the end to all forms of arbitrary arrests, maltreatment and torture.
6) the undertaking of immediate measures to protect civilians (especially the displaced) and the safeguarding of their human rights.
7) the establishment of a new, non-sectarian government that rejects the imposed political process and constitution imposed by the occupation. Only such a government can guarantee Iraq´s borders and security.
8) the encouragement and active support from the EU, respecting the UN Security Council resolution to defend the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq, for immediate negotiations to establish such a government.
Through these measures the EU can assume its moral and legal responsibility to the people of Iraq.
International
Anti-Occupation Network and the BRussells Tribunal - July 14,
2014
References:
(1)“The jihadi surge is the tragic, violent outcome of steadily
deteriorating political dynamics. Instead of a rash military intervention and
unconditional support for the Iraqi government, pressure is needed to reverse
sectarian polarisation and a disastrous record of governance.” International
Crisis Group http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/iraq-iran-gulf/iraq.aspx
(2)”.. the Obama administration has announced several waves of troop movement
into the region and into Iraq specifically. As of last week, the announced
number heading for Iraq now totals 770” How Nearly 800 U.S. Troops Spent Their
Fourth Of July In Iraq http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/07/06/3456225/iraq-american-troops/
(3)”Two battalions of the Quds Forces, which is the overseas branch of the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard, moved to Iraq on Wednesday, the Wall Street
Journal reported. There they worked jointly with Iraqi troops to retake control
of 85 percent of Tikrit, security forces from both countries told the Journal. “
RT: US airstrikes to support Iranian Revolutionary Guard's offensive in Iraq? http://rt.com/usa/165612-us-iran-allies-iraq-insurgency/
Foreign combat aircraft pour into Iraq http://www.janes.com/article/40398/foreign-combat-aircraft-pour-into-iraq#.U7v-xcI9YRA.twitter
(4) Toby Dodge Iraq from war to New Authoritarianism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tydPC1L7kU “Years of ethnic
cleansing have changed the sectarian balance of Baghdad strongly in favour of
Shia” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fd522be2-fdff-11e3-bd0e-00144feab7de.html#axzz363X8Ykyn
FT:City on edge as Baghdad residents await Isis attack #collectivepunishment article in English #Maliki army burn orchards and kill sheep http://tinyurl.com/mqqvubw
(5) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPgniPHvEc4 Torture session in
Mousel Iraq: Government Blocking Residents Fleeing Fighting http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/05/03/iraq-government-blocking-residents-fleeing-fighting
collective punishment: Iraqi government decided NOT to pay Salaries in ‘hot
areas’ not under its control http://tinyurl.com/o747gss
50 sunni detainees in Baquba/at least 7 in Mousel/46 in Tel Afar (Amnesty report) have been killed by the Maliki forces before
withdrawing. http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/07/11/iraq-campaign-mass-murders-sunni-prisoners
69 Sunni detainees executed http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/27/us-iraq-security-idUSKBN0F20S720140627
(6)Though it received little global attention, unrest in Fallujah, a
primarily Sunni city, began in late 2012 with protests against the hardline
policies of Nouri al-Maliki, the Shiite prime minister. Like many residents,
Wardi sees the military campaign, which began in January, as retribution. “This
started under the banner of fighting terrorists but changed to attacking the
city,” she said. “It’s punishment for the people.” “They describe government
artillery fire raining down on the city, targeting even the hospital, as Human
Rights Watch documented in May. Army helicopters have also used barrel bombs —
crude and inexact explosives that level surrounding homes along with intended
targets when they fall from the sky. “They’re completely indiscriminate — if not
actively targeting Sunni civilians,” Erin Evers, the Human Rights Watch
researcher in Iraq, said of the government’s military campaign in Fallujah and
elsewhere in Anbar, such as the city of Ramadi, which has seen a similar cycle
of protests and violence.” Shades Of Syria: Fears Maliki Will Follow The Assad
Model In Iraq. http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikegiglio/shades-of-syria-fears-that-maliki-will-follow-the-assad-mode
Call on UN Security Council, U.S. and EU to prevent the bombardment of civilians
in Iraq Struan Stevenson President, European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA) http://iraq4allnews.dk/irak/index.php/news1532.html(7) “Maliki never appointed a permanent, parliament-confirmed interior minister, nor a defense minister, nor an intelligence chief. Instead, he took the positions for himself.” “In short, Maliki’s one-man, one-Dawa-party Iraq looks a lot like [Saddam]Hussein’s one-man, one-Baath Party Iraq. But at least Hussein helped contain a strategic American enemy: Iran. And Washington didn’t spend $1 trillion propping him up. There is not much “democracy” left if one man and one party with close links to Iran control the judiciary, police, army, intelligence services, oil revenue, treasury and the central bank. Under these circumstances, renewed ethno-sectarian civil war in Iraq was not a possibility. It was a certainty” - Why we stuck with Maliki — and lost Iraq http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-we-stuck-with-maliki--and-lost-iraq/2014/07/03/0dd6a8a4-f7ec-11e3-a606-946fd632f9f1_story.html
(8)The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials state that security forces in policing situations shall “apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms.http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/03/iraq-investigate-violence-protest-camp Iraq: Investigate Violence at Protest Camp Fighting Erupts in Anbar Province After Security Forces, Protesters Clash.
Frustrated with living in fear and in constant violation of their rights, the
people of Iraq took to the streets to demand that their basic human rights be
respected. Their action took the form of peaceful demonstrations, which began on
25 December 2012 in Al-Anbar province. Since then, the demonstrations have grown
in geography, expanding to cities throughout the country, and in number with
hundreds of thousands of participants. The protests first called for the release
of female detainees who are subjected to inhumane treatment, but now encompass a
range of demands including the immediate release of fellow protestors; the
abolition of anti-terrorist laws; the cessation of house raids without legal
warrant and the end of financial, administrative and legal corruption. GICJ
requests that an independent international investigation mission be dispatched
to Iraq http://www.gicj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=290&Itemid=41&mylang=english&redir=1
“The main reason for the fall of the city of Mosul – the second largest city
in Iraq – is that the Maliki government did not respond to the demands of the
citizen protestors who demonstrated in Mosul, Anbar, Salahuddin, Diyala and
Hawija over a year ago and so the citizens did not support the Iraqi army.The
policy of the Iraqi government headed by Nouri al-Maliki has been totally
sectarian in the way it has operated in the Iraqi provinces. The government has
almost totally excluded representatives of the Sunni population from the
sovereign ministries, or left them with no real authority. Even the new Iraqi
army was formed on this basis. The Iraqi army unfortunately does not support a
doctrine of loyalty to the homeland (or an Iraq that is inclusive of all
people); instead it is loyal to the Madhhab or Shia doctrine. It deals with
citizens according to their religious sect. The armed forces have attacked
people in the cities of Mosul, Anbar, Salahuddin, Diyala and Hawija. They have
carried out arrests, torture and extortion. There have also been many cases of
rape by members of the army, both outside and inside prisons.” http://www.iraqicivilsociety.org/archives/3235
iraq
the washington post
aaron blake
cnn
national iraq news agency
all iraq news
alsumaria
antiwar.com
margaret griffis
joni mitchell
carl bernstein
mcclatchy newspapers
mitchell prothero
Friday, July 18, 2014
Do members of the press need a tutorial in basic skills?
Oh, how the press struggles to do the very basic part of their job. Let's help them out because it turns out that the definition of reporting as well as basic math skills continue to elude them.
So let's get started. If US State Dept spokesperson Jen Psaki declared in yesterday's press briefing that the plan was for Secretary of State John Kerry to do a photo op this afternoon with a delegation of children visiting from Europe, we would not be reporting this morning if we said or typed: "Today John Kerry met with children from Europe." Because it's Friday morning, not Friday afternoon. The event, though planned and promoted, hadn't taken place yet. We could say he was "scheduled" to meet with them or that he "planned" to or even that the State Dept "announced" that he would.
But we couldn't say that he'd met with them because reporting is about what took place.
No meeting had taken place yet. Writing about it as though it had? That would be predicting, not reporting.
With that basic understanding, is this reporting? "Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who has been in Germany for medical treatment since December 2012, will return home on Saturday, his party said in a statement."
It's bad reporting but making the qualifiers an aside ("his party said in a statement") does let AFP squeak by. Without that qualifier -- and some have left it out -- the statement is "Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who has been in Germany for medical treatment since December 2012, will return home on Saturday." That wouldn't squeak by. Because Jalal may or may not return on Saturday.
He's certainly -- and repeatedly -- been announced to be returning many times in the past.
Let's be kind and not note the outlets that didn't make it to reporting and instead focus on math.
Iran's Trend News Agency notes that Jalal's son has said he will return tomorrow -- July 19th. That's good.
Bad?
Their headline: "Iraq president to return after 18 months."
Let's recap. December 2012, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke. The incident took place late on December 17, 2012 following Jalal's argument with Iraq's prime minister and chief thug Nouri al-Maliki (see the December 18, 2012 snapshot). Jalal was admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20, 2012, he was moved to Germany. He remains in Germany currently.
December 20, 2012 to December 20, 2013?
One year.
December 20, 2013 to January 20, 2014? One month.
Jan. 20 to Feb 20 (all months are 2014 from this point forward)? Two months.
Feb. 20th to March 20th? Three months.
March 20th to April 20th? Four months.
April 20th to May 20th? Five months.
May 20th to June 20th? Six months.
June 20th to July 20th? Seven months.
Jalal is said to be returning on the 19th. If he does?
That's really seven months unless news outlets plan to count the actual days.
It's one day shy of one year and seven months.
It's safe to call that one year and seven months.
However, it is inaccurate to call it one year and six months.
Your choices are: "Talabani has been gone for 19 months," "Talabani has been gone for one year and seven months" and "Talabani has been gone for one year, six months and X days."
Since it's one day shy of seven months?
You can call it seven months. You can even cheat if you don't have the math skills and call it "over six months" -- "Talabani is supposed to return Saturday after spending over a year and six months in Germany."
But you better have that over.
And, no, you can write off 29 days. A president not being able to perform their duty or be in their home country for 29 days? That's news and you can write it off.
Regardless, will he return?
At this point, no one knows.
It hasn't happened yet.
Why might he be returning?
The Kurds insist that they and they alone have claim to the office of president of Iraq.
And the PUK wants to keep it for themselves -- and got especially upset earlier this month when the insurgent political party Goran made statements to the effect that Goran would be nominating someone for the office.
Jalal's announced return comes as the PUK tries to hold onto the post. Rudaw reports:
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has officially submitted its candidate for Iraq’s presidency, as politicians desperately struggle to put together a government in the middle of a Sunni rebellion and militant control of a third of Iraq.
Sources told Rudaw that the PUK has chosen Fuad Massoum, who is from Halabja, as a compromise candidate. But that was not immediately confirmed. Massoum is a long-time associate of Jalal Talabani, the PUK leader and Iraqi president who has been in Germany since a stroke in December 2012.
In other news, UNAMI issued the following statement today:
The report, compiled by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the UN Human Rights office, is based on direct monitoring activities as well as a variety of sources, including civilian victims and witnesses. It documents the “untold hardship and suffering” that has been imposed upon the civilian population, “with large-scale killings, injuries and destruction and damage of livelihoods and property.” Where information has been cross-checked and verified, specific incidents are detailed in the report.
“ISIL and associated armed groups have…carried out many of these attacks in a systematic manner heedless of the impact on civilians, or have systematically targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure with the intention of killing and wounding as many civilians as possible,” the report states. “Targets have included markets, restaurants, shops, cafes, playgrounds, schools, places of worship and other public spaces where civilians gather in large numbers.”
Among the systematic and egregious violations perpetrated by ISIL, the report lists:
·The direct, deliberate targeting of civilians in the conduct of military operations and disregard for the principles of distinction or proportionality in the context of military operations;
·Killings, including executions, of civilians, captured ISF personnel, and individuals associated with the Government of Iraq;
·Kidnapping of civilians, including of foreign nationals;
·Targeted killings of political, community and religious figures;
·Killings, abductions and other crimes and human rights violations against members of ethnic, religious and other minorities;
·Killing and physical violence against children; the forced recruitment of children;
·Wanton destruction of civilian property; robbery and plunder of civilian property; targeting and destruction of civilian infrastructure (including hospitals and schools); attacks on protected installations (such as dams); and attacks on places of cultural significance and places of religious worship.
The report also documents violations committed by the ISF and affiliated forces, including summary executions or extrajudicial killings of prisoners and detainees, which may also amount to war crimes. The report casts doubt over adherence by the ISF and affiliated forces to the principle of distinction and proportionality and whether they undertook the necessary precautions to protect civilians during the conduct of hostilities.
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, deplored the heavy toll the conflict is taking on Iraqi civilians.
"International law requires that both the Iraqi State and armed groups take all measures to minimize the impact of violence on civilians, respect the principles of distinction and proportionality when carrying out military operations, and take steps to ensure the safety and protection of civilians by enabling them to leave areas affected by violence in safety and dignity, and to access basic humanitarian assistance at all times,” he said.
“The United Nations is fully engaged with the Government of Iraq, the Kurdish Regional Government and civil society organizations to provide basic humanitarian assistance to all civilians who have been displaced or who remain in areas affected by violence."
The report also notes that children have been disproportionately affected by the conflict.
“In all conflict-affected areas, child casualties due to indiscriminate or systematic attacks by armed groups and by Government shelling on populated areas have been on the rise,” it states. “Credible information on recruitment and use of children as soldiers was also received.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said she was particularly concerned about the protection and welfare of members of vulnerable groups who remain in areas affected by the armed conflict, especially women, female-headed households, children, people with disabilities, the elderly, and members of minority groups.
“Every day we receive accounts of a terrible litany of human rights violations being committed in Iraq against ordinary Iraqi children, women and men, who have been deprived of their security, their livelihoods, their homes, education, healthcare and other basic services,” she said.
“The deliberate or indiscriminate targeting of civilians, the killing of civilians, the use of civilians as shields, the hindering of access for civilians to humanitarian assistance may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity. Parties to the conflict are required by international human rights law and international humanitarian law to prevent such violations and abuses from taking place.”
Pillay also stressed the obligation of the Government of Iraq to investigate serious violations and to hold the perpetrators to account.
Mladenov reiterated his call to the Iraqi political leadership to quickly move forward with the political process.
“Now that a Speaker of Parliament has been elected, it is vital that Iraqi leaders quickly move forward on the nomination of a new President and a new Government. An inclusive political process, cooperation between Baghdad and Erbil as well as a nationally accepted security plan are important elements in restoring the rule of law and bringing the country back from the brink of chaos,” Mladenov stressed.
The report notes that in the month of June, at least 1,531 civilians were killed in Iraq and 1,763 were wounded. Some 1.2 million Iraqis have been internally displaced as a result of the violence – including over 600,000 since the beginning of June alone.
Report on the Protection of Civilians in the Non International Armed Conflict in Iraq: 5 June – 5 July 2014
The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley, Jake Tapper, the Guardian and Antiwar.com -- updated:
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq
xx
So let's get started. If US State Dept spokesperson Jen Psaki declared in yesterday's press briefing that the plan was for Secretary of State John Kerry to do a photo op this afternoon with a delegation of children visiting from Europe, we would not be reporting this morning if we said or typed: "Today John Kerry met with children from Europe." Because it's Friday morning, not Friday afternoon. The event, though planned and promoted, hadn't taken place yet. We could say he was "scheduled" to meet with them or that he "planned" to or even that the State Dept "announced" that he would.
But we couldn't say that he'd met with them because reporting is about what took place.
No meeting had taken place yet. Writing about it as though it had? That would be predicting, not reporting.
With that basic understanding, is this reporting? "Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who has been in Germany for medical treatment since December 2012, will return home on Saturday, his party said in a statement."
It's bad reporting but making the qualifiers an aside ("his party said in a statement") does let AFP squeak by. Without that qualifier -- and some have left it out -- the statement is "Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who has been in Germany for medical treatment since December 2012, will return home on Saturday." That wouldn't squeak by. Because Jalal may or may not return on Saturday.
He's certainly -- and repeatedly -- been announced to be returning many times in the past.
Let's be kind and not note the outlets that didn't make it to reporting and instead focus on math.
Iran's Trend News Agency notes that Jalal's son has said he will return tomorrow -- July 19th. That's good.
Bad?
Their headline: "Iraq president to return after 18 months."
Let's recap. December 2012, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke. The incident took place late on December 17, 2012 following Jalal's argument with Iraq's prime minister and chief thug Nouri al-Maliki (see the December 18, 2012 snapshot). Jalal was admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20, 2012, he was moved to Germany. He remains in Germany currently.
December 20, 2012 to December 20, 2013?
One year.
December 20, 2013 to January 20, 2014? One month.
Jan. 20 to Feb 20 (all months are 2014 from this point forward)? Two months.
Feb. 20th to March 20th? Three months.
March 20th to April 20th? Four months.
April 20th to May 20th? Five months.
May 20th to June 20th? Six months.
June 20th to July 20th? Seven months.
Jalal is said to be returning on the 19th. If he does?
That's really seven months unless news outlets plan to count the actual days.
It's one day shy of one year and seven months.
It's safe to call that one year and seven months.
However, it is inaccurate to call it one year and six months.
Your choices are: "Talabani has been gone for 19 months," "Talabani has been gone for one year and seven months" and "Talabani has been gone for one year, six months and X days."
Since it's one day shy of seven months?
You can call it seven months. You can even cheat if you don't have the math skills and call it "over six months" -- "Talabani is supposed to return Saturday after spending over a year and six months in Germany."
But you better have that over.
And, no, you can write off 29 days. A president not being able to perform their duty or be in their home country for 29 days? That's news and you can write it off.
Regardless, will he return?
At this point, no one knows.
It hasn't happened yet.
Why might he be returning?
The Kurds insist that they and they alone have claim to the office of president of Iraq.
And the PUK wants to keep it for themselves -- and got especially upset earlier this month when the insurgent political party Goran made statements to the effect that Goran would be nominating someone for the office.
Jalal's announced return comes as the PUK tries to hold onto the post. Rudaw reports:
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has officially submitted its candidate for Iraq’s presidency, as politicians desperately struggle to put together a government in the middle of a Sunni rebellion and militant control of a third of Iraq.
Sources told Rudaw that the PUK has chosen Fuad Massoum, who is from Halabja, as a compromise candidate. But that was not immediately confirmed. Massoum is a long-time associate of Jalal Talabani, the PUK leader and Iraqi president who has been in Germany since a stroke in December 2012.
In other news, UNAMI issued the following statement today:
BAGHDAD/GENEVA (18 July 2014) – A UN report released Friday
documents a litany of serious human rights violations committed by the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and associated armed groups
between 5 June and 5 July, including some that may amount to war crimes
and crimes against humanity. The report also documents violations
committed by Iraqi security forces (ISF) and associated forces.
The report, compiled by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the UN Human Rights office, is based on direct monitoring activities as well as a variety of sources, including civilian victims and witnesses. It documents the “untold hardship and suffering” that has been imposed upon the civilian population, “with large-scale killings, injuries and destruction and damage of livelihoods and property.” Where information has been cross-checked and verified, specific incidents are detailed in the report.
“ISIL and associated armed groups have…carried out many of these attacks in a systematic manner heedless of the impact on civilians, or have systematically targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure with the intention of killing and wounding as many civilians as possible,” the report states. “Targets have included markets, restaurants, shops, cafes, playgrounds, schools, places of worship and other public spaces where civilians gather in large numbers.”
Among the systematic and egregious violations perpetrated by ISIL, the report lists:
·The direct, deliberate targeting of civilians in the conduct of military operations and disregard for the principles of distinction or proportionality in the context of military operations;
·Killings, including executions, of civilians, captured ISF personnel, and individuals associated with the Government of Iraq;
·Kidnapping of civilians, including of foreign nationals;
·Targeted killings of political, community and religious figures;
·Killings, abductions and other crimes and human rights violations against members of ethnic, religious and other minorities;
·Killing and physical violence against children; the forced recruitment of children;
·Wanton destruction of civilian property; robbery and plunder of civilian property; targeting and destruction of civilian infrastructure (including hospitals and schools); attacks on protected installations (such as dams); and attacks on places of cultural significance and places of religious worship.
The report also documents violations committed by the ISF and affiliated forces, including summary executions or extrajudicial killings of prisoners and detainees, which may also amount to war crimes. The report casts doubt over adherence by the ISF and affiliated forces to the principle of distinction and proportionality and whether they undertook the necessary precautions to protect civilians during the conduct of hostilities.
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, deplored the heavy toll the conflict is taking on Iraqi civilians.
"International law requires that both the Iraqi State and armed groups take all measures to minimize the impact of violence on civilians, respect the principles of distinction and proportionality when carrying out military operations, and take steps to ensure the safety and protection of civilians by enabling them to leave areas affected by violence in safety and dignity, and to access basic humanitarian assistance at all times,” he said.
“The United Nations is fully engaged with the Government of Iraq, the Kurdish Regional Government and civil society organizations to provide basic humanitarian assistance to all civilians who have been displaced or who remain in areas affected by violence."
The report also notes that children have been disproportionately affected by the conflict.
“In all conflict-affected areas, child casualties due to indiscriminate or systematic attacks by armed groups and by Government shelling on populated areas have been on the rise,” it states. “Credible information on recruitment and use of children as soldiers was also received.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said she was particularly concerned about the protection and welfare of members of vulnerable groups who remain in areas affected by the armed conflict, especially women, female-headed households, children, people with disabilities, the elderly, and members of minority groups.
“Every day we receive accounts of a terrible litany of human rights violations being committed in Iraq against ordinary Iraqi children, women and men, who have been deprived of their security, their livelihoods, their homes, education, healthcare and other basic services,” she said.
“The deliberate or indiscriminate targeting of civilians, the killing of civilians, the use of civilians as shields, the hindering of access for civilians to humanitarian assistance may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity. Parties to the conflict are required by international human rights law and international humanitarian law to prevent such violations and abuses from taking place.”
Pillay also stressed the obligation of the Government of Iraq to investigate serious violations and to hold the perpetrators to account.
Mladenov reiterated his call to the Iraqi political leadership to quickly move forward with the political process.
“Now that a Speaker of Parliament has been elected, it is vital that Iraqi leaders quickly move forward on the nomination of a new President and a new Government. An inclusive political process, cooperation between Baghdad and Erbil as well as a nationally accepted security plan are important elements in restoring the rule of law and bringing the country back from the brink of chaos,” Mladenov stressed.
The report notes that in the month of June, at least 1,531 civilians were killed in Iraq and 1,763 were wounded. Some 1.2 million Iraqis have been internally displaced as a result of the violence – including over 600,000 since the beginning of June alone.
Report on the Protection of Civilians in the Non International Armed Conflict in Iraq: 5 June – 5 July 2014
The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley, Jake Tapper, the Guardian and Antiwar.com -- updated:
Elaine Stritch
4 hours ago
This is just disgusting
4 hours ago
Crooked Lois Lerner being investigated
4 hours ago
The Biggs Mouth
4 hours ago
More layoffs
4 hours ago
Called out by Cheney
8 hours ago
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq
xx
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Iraq snapshot
Thursday, July 17, 2014. Chaos and violence continue, Nouri makes a mess of everything, 'reporter' Hannah Allem piles the blames on others, fact checking her outlandish lies let's us drop back to the realities others ignored in real time, how did Nouri get a weaponized drone in Mosul, did Iraq just get their first suicide bomber from Australia, and much more.
Nouri al-Maliki is a thug. The 'liberal' media -- Scott Horton's Antiwar Radio, Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! and so many others -- have whored for Nouri and they continue to whore for him.
Yesterday on Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman continued her war against Iraqi Sunnis by booking noted Sunni hater Patrick Cockburn as well as the always ridiculous Hannah Allem (McClatchy Newspapers) who somehow, someway, just happens, repeatedly, to slant things so that Sunnis come off so badly. Now that Patrick's documented hatred of Sunnis has moved from Arabic social media into the mainstream media, we can ignore him and just zoom in on Hannah.
Hannah Allem: Down in Najaf, even more important than the prime minister’s call to arms was the fatwa issued by the Shia highest authority in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. He issued a call to arms that asked all Iraqis to come and help in the defense of the nation. And he and his office and officials around him have stressed several times that that was not a sectarian call to arms, that it was a patriotic national duty. But that’s not how it’s been interpreted on the ground, and it’s not how it’s playing out on the ground. It has given religious cover to the remobilization of militias that the government spent—and the U.S. military, when it was here, spent—the past several years trying to disband.
We have to stop Hannah there, the lies are just too intense.
Hannah lies in July of 2014 that Shi'ite militias are reforming.
Really?
In the summer of 2014?
We're going back to October 4, 2013 and the start and the end of the excerpt will be signified by "**********." Excerpt:
***************
As the photo above (Baghdad) by Iraqi Spring MC demonstrates, protests continued in Iraq. Protests also took place in Tikrit, Najaf, Ramadi, Falluja, Samarra, Baquba, Balad Ruz, Jalawla, among other sites. Protests have been taking place non-stop since December 21st. Of today's protests, NINA notes:
Preachers of Friday-prayers called on the sit-inner in their sermons to continue the sit-ins as are the only way to get rid of injustice and abuse policy.
They said in the common prayer which held in six regions of Diyala province : " Iraqi government must not deal with the demands of the protestors in a double standard . Urging worshipers to unify their stand until getting the demands, release innocent prisoners and detainees from prisons.
Kitabat reports that Sheikh Mohammed al-Dulaimi spoke at the Falluja protest and accused the government of supporting militias who target and kill Sunnis. The Sheikh said that instead of implementing the demands of the protesters, the government would rather target or ignore the protesters. National Iraqi News offers the Sheikh said, ""The Iraqi government rather than implement the demands of the protesters and adopt genuine reconciliation with people, it tracking and embarrassing the protest leaders,since 9 Months ago claimants the usurped legal rights."
Sheikh Mohammed al-Dulaimi is correct in his accusation: Nouri al-Maliki (prime minister and chief thug of Iraq) is supporting Shi'ite militias. Tim Arango (New York Times) broke that story last week -- but somehow the US Congress and the rest of the media missed it. (The media may be playing dumb. Members of Congress actually missed it, I spoke with several yesterday about Tim Arango's report.) Arango noted:
**********************************
So the October 4th protests were noting that the Shi'ite militias were regrouping and attacking them and the New York Times' Tim Arango was even reporting that Nouri al-Maliki was arming and garbing Shi'ite militias?
Kind of an important detail.
And one of the reasons the Sunnis felt so targeted.
But leave to Whore Hannah to show up in July 2014 and claim that Shi'ite militias were reforming -- Shi'ite militias who reformed long ago.
Hannah Allem: So we’re talking about groups like Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, which was a splinter group of the Mahdi Army trained by Iran, close ties to Iran, and several other Iranian-backed Shia Muslim militias. And then, on top of that, you’ve got tribes that are offering up tens of thousands of their members, and you’ve got these just ordinary teenagers, you know, and young men who are answering the call on religious grounds. So, it’s this hodgepodge of forces. They really sort of lack a central command. So far they’ve said that they would all play fair and answer to the government and work within the government structure. But that’s just simply not the case. There are just too many people with arms roaming around with disparate leaders.
Okay, Moqtada's Mahdi Army? I have no idea whether it reformed or not but those rumors of it reforming started in early 2013.
To take the heat off Hannah, let's note the load of the crap that came up next:
Nezir Akyesilmen (Daily Sabah) offers this take on events in Iraq:
A coalition of oppositions composed of resentful Sunni groups, former Ba'athists and the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) - or from its Arabic acronym as Da'ish - has been able to control most of the Sunni populated Iraq territory (except for the Kurdistan region), including Mosul, the second biggest city of Iraq, within a short time. Such a sudden contagion, shows on one hand, the weakness and ineffectiveness of the Iraqi central army and on the other hand depicts the coalition of opposition as an important and powerful actor that cannot be ignored in Iraq anymore. There are also signals showing that this de facto situation will remain for a long time and may even be permanent.
When the PM of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Nechirvan Barzani said that "it is difficult to be able to return to the order before Mosul in Iraq" in an interview on the BBC, he was most probably referring to this reality. The conflict which has become particularly violent is escalating in Iraq and transforming into an inhuman situation with casualties increasing day by day. Hate speech by Nouri al-Maliki and violent acts against Shia by the coalition under ISIS patronage have deepened the separation and conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims not only in Iraq but also on the whole planet. Some regional powers have made great contributions both in design and ideology to this sectarian conflict. If this conflict is not resolved in a short time, all the regional countries will be negatively affected in terms of economic, social and political stability, particularly the actors that are trading with Iraq (essentially with the Kurdistan region), including Turkey. In such a case, regional escalation of a lasting, comprehensive and sectarian conflict is unavoidable.
See, if you're not Hannah, you can speak honestly about Iraq.
NINA reports 1 person was killed today in Mosul and five more were left injured.
What's curious is the weapon used. A drone.
US President Barack Obama has insisted that no US drones were being used as weapons as yet in Iraq and those present were in Baghdad.
So what's happened?
Iran's suddenly got drones? Weaponized ones?
Russia's delivered them?
Or Barack's lied to the American people?
Julian E. Barnes (Wall St. Journal) reports on how Barack's rush to arm Nouri suffered a little setback:
U.S. defense officials are tamping down any talk of a quick decision on what to do next in Iraq.
And on Wednesday, Mr. Obama addressed a range of foreign policy challenges, including the Afghanistan elections, negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, the fighting between Israel and Hamas, and Russian provocations in Ukraine, but there was no mention of imminent action in Iraq. In fact, Mr. Obama didn’t mention Iraq at all.
What’s going on?
A fresh assessment of Iraq’s security forces prepared by U.S. military teams working in Iraq was delivered to the Pentagon this week. It wasn’t exactly a sunny outlook, but Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said that while defense leaders felt a sense of urgency, they were not going to rush their work.
Dahr Jamail observes (in a repost at The Nation), " What is left of Iraq, this mess that is no longer a country, should be considered the legacy of decades of US policy there, dating back to the moment when Saddam Hussein was in power and enjoyed Washington’s support. With Maliki, it has simply been a different dictator, enjoying even more such support (until these last weeks), and using similarly barbaric tactics against Iraqis."
Vietnam veteran Roland Van Deusen writes the Watertown Daily Times to share his thoughts on Iraq which include:
Since we left Iraq, the government we set up there has replaced almost every senior officer in the Iraqi army with Shi’ite yes-men, regardless of their military ability. Three hundred U.S. advisers won’t undo this damage before ISIS threatens to topple Iraq’s government.
James Cullum (Talk Radio News) speaks with US House Rep Ted Poe:
“I think he has to go,” Poe told TRNS after a subcommittee meeting on Tuesday. “He needed to go a long time ago. He’s incompetent and has the inability to lead, and he can’t lead all the people in Iraq. He’s trying to preserve his fiefdom, and rulers in that situation have many times dealt in an unreal world, and do not know they have lost their credibility and authority, and he is one of those.”
Since begging the US government to provide 'traineers' and 'advisors' on the ground in Iraq, Nouri has demonstrated that he will not change one bit. His latest tantrum has only further inflamed tensions in Iraq. Press TV notes:
Iraq’s Kurds have just recently announced plans for a referendum on the independence of the semi-autonomous Kurdish province.The Arab League however has downplayed the significance of these plans as “media talk”.Meanwhile, the Kurds, including ministers in the Iraqi cabinet, continue to disengage from Baghdad completely, following accusations by Prime Minister Maliki that Erbil was harboring ISIL terrorists.
PNA notes, "Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has urged PM Nouri Maliki to apologise for saying the Kurdish region authorities are sheltering extremists." But when has Nouri ever worked to clean up one of his own messes?
Robin Wright (New Yorker) notes Nouri's problems with the Kurds:
The Kurds have many reasons to split off. They’re furious with Baghdad, which since January has refused to fork over the Kurds’ share of the national kitty. They’re terrified of the sweeping territorial conquests by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), an Al Qaeda offshoot, which is now poised along a six-hundred-mile border with Kurdistan that the Iraqi Army abruptly abandoned last month. And they’re engaged in a war of words with Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, about stepping aside to let a new government salvage the nation. Last week, Maliki accused the Kurds of aiding ISIS militants. He fired all the Kurds in his cabinet, including the stalwart Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
“He has become hysterical and has lost his balance,” Barzani, who is now Kurdistan’s President, said in an unusually peppery statement on July 10th. “He is doing everything he can to justify his failures and put the blame on others.” Barzani noted that Maliki himself had once taken refuge from Saddam’s dictatorship in Kurdistan—and that others were now taking refuge from Maliki. Barzani also told the BBC, “Iraq is effectively partitioned now. Are we supposed to stay in this tragic situation?”
Those factors would make many tread lightly -- but not Nouri al-Maliki. He just stomps his feet, creates more problems and then begs others to clean up his mess.
Let's turn to violence. Warwick Daily News notes, "The first Australian suicide bomber in Iraq reportedly killed three people in the heart of Baghdad on Thursday, raising the involvement of local jihadists in the spiraling violence to a chilling new level." IS used a Tweet to note the bombing and dub the bomber Abu Bark al-Australi. 3 News adds, "If the man is confirmed to be Australian, he will be the first from his country to have been involved in carrying out a suicide bombing in Iraq.
In other violence, National Iraqi News Agency reports a battle in Alsger left 3 Iraqi soldiers dead, a Muqdadiyah battle left 6 rebels dead, the military killed 2 suspects in Hit, a central Baghdad bombing left 5 people dead and thirty-seven more injured, an al-Khalid bombing left seven Peshmerga injured, and Baghdad Operations Command announced they killed 19 suspects. Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) notes, "At least 109 people were killed today, and another 148 were wounded."
iraq
iraqi spring mc
national iraqi news agency
kitabat
the new york times
tim arrango
iraq
Nouri al-Maliki is a thug. The 'liberal' media -- Scott Horton's Antiwar Radio, Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! and so many others -- have whored for Nouri and they continue to whore for him.
Yesterday on Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman continued her war against Iraqi Sunnis by booking noted Sunni hater Patrick Cockburn as well as the always ridiculous Hannah Allem (McClatchy Newspapers) who somehow, someway, just happens, repeatedly, to slant things so that Sunnis come off so badly. Now that Patrick's documented hatred of Sunnis has moved from Arabic social media into the mainstream media, we can ignore him and just zoom in on Hannah.
Hannah Allem: Down in Najaf, even more important than the prime minister’s call to arms was the fatwa issued by the Shia highest authority in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. He issued a call to arms that asked all Iraqis to come and help in the defense of the nation. And he and his office and officials around him have stressed several times that that was not a sectarian call to arms, that it was a patriotic national duty. But that’s not how it’s been interpreted on the ground, and it’s not how it’s playing out on the ground. It has given religious cover to the remobilization of militias that the government spent—and the U.S. military, when it was here, spent—the past several years trying to disband.
We have to stop Hannah there, the lies are just too intense.
Hannah lies in July of 2014 that Shi'ite militias are reforming.
Really?
In the summer of 2014?
We're going back to October 4, 2013 and the start and the end of the excerpt will be signified by "**********." Excerpt:
***************
As the photo above (Baghdad) by Iraqi Spring MC demonstrates, protests continued in Iraq. Protests also took place in Tikrit, Najaf, Ramadi, Falluja, Samarra, Baquba, Balad Ruz, Jalawla, among other sites. Protests have been taking place non-stop since December 21st. Of today's protests, NINA notes:
Preachers of Friday-prayers called on the sit-inner in their sermons to continue the sit-ins as are the only way to get rid of injustice and abuse policy.
They said in the common prayer which held in six regions of Diyala province : " Iraqi government must not deal with the demands of the protestors in a double standard . Urging worshipers to unify their stand until getting the demands, release innocent prisoners and detainees from prisons.
Kitabat reports that Sheikh Mohammed al-Dulaimi spoke at the Falluja protest and accused the government of supporting militias who target and kill Sunnis. The Sheikh said that instead of implementing the demands of the protesters, the government would rather target or ignore the protesters. National Iraqi News offers the Sheikh said, ""The Iraqi government rather than implement the demands of the protesters and adopt genuine reconciliation with people, it tracking and embarrassing the protest leaders,since 9 Months ago claimants the usurped legal rights."
Sheikh Mohammed al-Dulaimi is correct in his accusation: Nouri al-Maliki (prime minister and chief thug of Iraq) is supporting Shi'ite militias. Tim Arango (New York Times) broke that story last week -- but somehow the US Congress and the rest of the media missed it. (The media may be playing dumb. Members of Congress actually missed it, I spoke with several yesterday about Tim Arango's report.) Arango noted:
In supporting Asaib al-Haq, Mr. Maliki has apparently made the risky
calculation that by backing some Shiite militias, even in secret, he can
maintain control over the country’s restive Shiite population and,
ultimately, retain power after the next national elections, which are
scheduled for next year. Militiamen and residents of Shiite areas say
members of Asaib al-Haq are given government badges and weapons and
allowed freedom of movement by the security forces.
**********************************
So the October 4th protests were noting that the Shi'ite militias were regrouping and attacking them and the New York Times' Tim Arango was even reporting that Nouri al-Maliki was arming and garbing Shi'ite militias?
Kind of an important detail.
And one of the reasons the Sunnis felt so targeted.
But leave to Whore Hannah to show up in July 2014 and claim that Shi'ite militias were reforming -- Shi'ite militias who reformed long ago.
Hannah Allem: So we’re talking about groups like Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, which was a splinter group of the Mahdi Army trained by Iran, close ties to Iran, and several other Iranian-backed Shia Muslim militias. And then, on top of that, you’ve got tribes that are offering up tens of thousands of their members, and you’ve got these just ordinary teenagers, you know, and young men who are answering the call on religious grounds. So, it’s this hodgepodge of forces. They really sort of lack a central command. So far they’ve said that they would all play fair and answer to the government and work within the government structure. But that’s just simply not the case. There are just too many people with arms roaming around with disparate leaders.
Okay, Moqtada's Mahdi Army? I have no idea whether it reformed or not but those rumors of it reforming started in early 2013.
To take the heat off Hannah, let's note the load of the crap that came up next:
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, last month Democracy Now! interviewed former U.N. special envoy for Syria, Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi.
He was previously the U.N. special representative for Iraq. He
suggested that sectarianism in Iraq was fostered in the early years of
the U.S. invasion and occupation.
LAKHDAR BRAHIMI: The impression one had was that the people that were preferred by the occupying powers were the most sectarian Shia and the most pro-Iranian Shia, so, you know, that Iran—that Iraq is now very, very close to Iran. Again, from the point of view of somebody who looks at things from outside, I have absolutely no knowledge of what went on in the high spheres of power in Washington. The impression we had is that these people were put in charge either out of total ignorance—and that is extremely difficult to accept—or intentionally. But the fact is, you know, that the system that was established was very sectarian.
NERMEEN SHAIKH:
Hannah Allam, that was Lakhdar Brahimi, the former U.N. special envoy
for Syria. He was previously the special representative, the U.N.
special representative for Iraq. Could you comment on what he said and
also on reports of the Islamic State’s violence and atrocities, really,
against Sunni Muslims, in addition to Shia and Kurds?
Don't bother trying to remember the question, Hannah really won't try to answer it.
But Nermeen is beyond stupid. Brahimi's a tool, no one expects honesty from tools.
No, the US government -- under Bully Boy Bush -- did not choose to back Iraqis (Iraqi exiles) because these were Iraqis close to Iran.
That's beyond stupid, it's a lie.
We have to do a back story here.
I don't care for Naomi Klein. The woman's a piece of trash. She became that before she whored (and lied) for Barack. She became a piece of trash as she did the bare minimum a Canadian activist could do for war resisters. She'd sign a petition but that's about little Naomi could manage.
She certainly wouldn't stand with them. She wrongly feared she'd loose access to the United States.
No, she wouldn't have. She was an American citizen. Bully Boy Bush couldn't have kept her out of the country.
What's that?
She's Canadian?
Yeah, she has dual citizenship. Because her parents are Americans. Her mother and her father.
Her parents went to Canada during Vietnam. Her father was a war resister.
So for that trashy mall rat Naomi Klein to refuse to share her story, her family's narrative to make the case for the need for Canada to offer asylum to war resisters as they did during Vietnam?
I have no use for Naomi Klein.
As the late, great Cass Elliot used to say, "I wouldn't piss on her if she were on fire." That's how I feel about Naomi.
But when she briefly cared about Iraq, she was able to make the point that realities in Iraq weren't accidents.
And we would note her Harper's essay and expand on it to point out that you have to make the people docile and fearful if you want to take them down "Year Zero."
The US government backed the exiles they did because those exiles would terrorize the Iraqi people -- keep the people fearful of safety while the US government and the installed Iraqis worked to fleece the country.
Let's go back to Hannah. We're picking right back up but don't worry about the question she was asked because Hannah talks about what Hannah wants to.
HANNAH ALLAM:
Sure. I think it’s important to note that the Islamic State is not
doing this land grab, this insurgency alone. It has a lot of support,
really crucial support, especially for holding territories that it
seized, from, again, this mixture of former Baathists, ex-military and
intelligence from the old regime, some tribes. And the reason they’ve
been able to cultivate some support among those community—well, some are
just, you know, against the whole political system that was established
under the U.S. occupation.
Still with Hannah but I really want you to pay attention to what she says next:
Some haven’t come to terms with the loss of
their former power and prestige. But then there are a wide swath of
Sunni communities who are simply fed up with the sectarian policies
they’ve seen under this administration of Nouri al-Maliki.
Some Sunnis haven't come to terms with a loss of power and prestige?
Am I the only one who can see Hannah taking two skips to the right in order to next justify slavery?
Hannah is such a damn xenophobe.
Power and prestige weren't the issues for the Sunni people.
It's cute how Nouri never gets called out by the Hannahs.
This has been addressed at length in the UK's Iraq Inquiry.
Paul Bremer kicked off de-Ba'athification -- sending many Sunnis (and Shi'ites) out of the government. This was a huge mistake -- British intelligence saw it as such, check the testimonies to the Iraq Inquiry. And a huge mistake was made worse by Nouri
He was supposed to end de-Ba'athifaction. This was supposed to allow the country to unify and Nouri promised to do this in 2007. This was part of the benchmarks the White House came up with.
McClatchy reported on those benchmarks repeatedly -- they did so badly, but they did so repeatedly.
Hannah Allem: And I think
we should point out he [Nouri] first ran on a platform that was considered
nationalist. He went after Shia militias in the south, and people
thought, OK, maybe this isn’t going to be as sectarian as we feared.
What?
Shi'ite militias in the south?
Oh, the Mahdi. Yeah, with the US, he went after one Shi'ite militia, the militia of his political rival Moqtada al-Sadr.
Oh, the Mahdi. Yeah, with the US, he went after one Shi'ite militia, the militia of his political rival Moqtada al-Sadr.
One militia. Hannah's always got to lie. She's the proud mommy with the unaccomplished son so she just makes s**t up and hopes no one catches on.
A coalition of oppositions composed of resentful Sunni groups, former Ba'athists and the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) - or from its Arabic acronym as Da'ish - has been able to control most of the Sunni populated Iraq territory (except for the Kurdistan region), including Mosul, the second biggest city of Iraq, within a short time. Such a sudden contagion, shows on one hand, the weakness and ineffectiveness of the Iraqi central army and on the other hand depicts the coalition of opposition as an important and powerful actor that cannot be ignored in Iraq anymore. There are also signals showing that this de facto situation will remain for a long time and may even be permanent.
When the PM of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Nechirvan Barzani said that "it is difficult to be able to return to the order before Mosul in Iraq" in an interview on the BBC, he was most probably referring to this reality. The conflict which has become particularly violent is escalating in Iraq and transforming into an inhuman situation with casualties increasing day by day. Hate speech by Nouri al-Maliki and violent acts against Shia by the coalition under ISIS patronage have deepened the separation and conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims not only in Iraq but also on the whole planet. Some regional powers have made great contributions both in design and ideology to this sectarian conflict. If this conflict is not resolved in a short time, all the regional countries will be negatively affected in terms of economic, social and political stability, particularly the actors that are trading with Iraq (essentially with the Kurdistan region), including Turkey. In such a case, regional escalation of a lasting, comprehensive and sectarian conflict is unavoidable.
See, if you're not Hannah, you can speak honestly about Iraq.
NINA reports 1 person was killed today in Mosul and five more were left injured.
What's curious is the weapon used. A drone.
US President Barack Obama has insisted that no US drones were being used as weapons as yet in Iraq and those present were in Baghdad.
So what's happened?
Iran's suddenly got drones? Weaponized ones?
Russia's delivered them?
Or Barack's lied to the American people?
Julian E. Barnes (Wall St. Journal) reports on how Barack's rush to arm Nouri suffered a little setback:
U.S. defense officials are tamping down any talk of a quick decision on what to do next in Iraq.
And on Wednesday, Mr. Obama addressed a range of foreign policy challenges, including the Afghanistan elections, negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, the fighting between Israel and Hamas, and Russian provocations in Ukraine, but there was no mention of imminent action in Iraq. In fact, Mr. Obama didn’t mention Iraq at all.
What’s going on?
A fresh assessment of Iraq’s security forces prepared by U.S. military teams working in Iraq was delivered to the Pentagon this week. It wasn’t exactly a sunny outlook, but Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said that while defense leaders felt a sense of urgency, they were not going to rush their work.
Dahr Jamail observes (in a repost at The Nation), " What is left of Iraq, this mess that is no longer a country, should be considered the legacy of decades of US policy there, dating back to the moment when Saddam Hussein was in power and enjoyed Washington’s support. With Maliki, it has simply been a different dictator, enjoying even more such support (until these last weeks), and using similarly barbaric tactics against Iraqis."
Vietnam veteran Roland Van Deusen writes the Watertown Daily Times to share his thoughts on Iraq which include:
Since we left Iraq, the government we set up there has replaced almost every senior officer in the Iraqi army with Shi’ite yes-men, regardless of their military ability. Three hundred U.S. advisers won’t undo this damage before ISIS threatens to topple Iraq’s government.
That
government refused John Kerry’s condition that our defending them
depends upon their sharing power with Sunnis and Kurds. Yet now our
adviser/grunts are on the ground, with another 200 on the way, in spite
of our president’s saying the answer to this crisis is political, not
military. Why are we there?
James Cullum (Talk Radio News) speaks with US House Rep Ted Poe:
“I think he has to go,” Poe told TRNS after a subcommittee meeting on Tuesday. “He needed to go a long time ago. He’s incompetent and has the inability to lead, and he can’t lead all the people in Iraq. He’s trying to preserve his fiefdom, and rulers in that situation have many times dealt in an unreal world, and do not know they have lost their credibility and authority, and he is one of those.”
Since begging the US government to provide 'traineers' and 'advisors' on the ground in Iraq, Nouri has demonstrated that he will not change one bit. His latest tantrum has only further inflamed tensions in Iraq. Press TV notes:
Iraq’s Kurds have just recently announced plans for a referendum on the independence of the semi-autonomous Kurdish province.The Arab League however has downplayed the significance of these plans as “media talk”.Meanwhile, the Kurds, including ministers in the Iraqi cabinet, continue to disengage from Baghdad completely, following accusations by Prime Minister Maliki that Erbil was harboring ISIL terrorists.
PNA notes, "Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has urged PM Nouri Maliki to apologise for saying the Kurdish region authorities are sheltering extremists." But when has Nouri ever worked to clean up one of his own messes?
Robin Wright (New Yorker) notes Nouri's problems with the Kurds:
The Kurds have many reasons to split off. They’re furious with Baghdad, which since January has refused to fork over the Kurds’ share of the national kitty. They’re terrified of the sweeping territorial conquests by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), an Al Qaeda offshoot, which is now poised along a six-hundred-mile border with Kurdistan that the Iraqi Army abruptly abandoned last month. And they’re engaged in a war of words with Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, about stepping aside to let a new government salvage the nation. Last week, Maliki accused the Kurds of aiding ISIS militants. He fired all the Kurds in his cabinet, including the stalwart Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
“He has become hysterical and has lost his balance,” Barzani, who is now Kurdistan’s President, said in an unusually peppery statement on July 10th. “He is doing everything he can to justify his failures and put the blame on others.” Barzani noted that Maliki himself had once taken refuge from Saddam’s dictatorship in Kurdistan—and that others were now taking refuge from Maliki. Barzani also told the BBC, “Iraq is effectively partitioned now. Are we supposed to stay in this tragic situation?”
Those factors would make many tread lightly -- but not Nouri al-Maliki. He just stomps his feet, creates more problems and then begs others to clean up his mess.
Let's turn to violence. Warwick Daily News notes, "The first Australian suicide bomber in Iraq reportedly killed three people in the heart of Baghdad on Thursday, raising the involvement of local jihadists in the spiraling violence to a chilling new level." IS used a Tweet to note the bombing and dub the bomber Abu Bark al-Australi. 3 News adds, "If the man is confirmed to be Australian, he will be the first from his country to have been involved in carrying out a suicide bombing in Iraq.
In other violence, National Iraqi News Agency reports a battle in Alsger left 3 Iraqi soldiers dead, a Muqdadiyah battle left 6 rebels dead, the military killed 2 suspects in Hit, a central Baghdad bombing left 5 people dead and thirty-seven more injured, an al-Khalid bombing left seven Peshmerga injured, and Baghdad Operations Command announced they killed 19 suspects. Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) notes, "At least 109 people were killed today, and another 148 were wounded."
iraq
iraqi spring mc
national iraqi news agency
kitabat
the new york times
tim arrango
iraq
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