In Iraq, they were outlawed.
Forever thug and former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki outlawed them.
You could not seek political office in the national elections if you belonged to a political party that had a militia.
This remains one of the few things Nouri can proudly cite as an accomplishment during his two terms as prime minister.
To be sure, he feared being toppled by Shi'ite militias so he was acting out of self-interest but, regardless, he did ensure that they were outlawed.
That's not a minor point -- whether you give Nouri credit or not.
But it's a point that's missing in Hamza Hendawi and Qassim Abdul-Zahra report for the ASSOCIATED PRESS which notes that the Shi'ite militias (brought into the government by Haider al-Abadi, the current prime minister) now number over 50 and may include as many as 140,000 members. The reporters note that the mobilization forces (militias) are also known as Hashd. They even point out that "Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, the Hashd's most powerful figure, [. . .] is wanted by the United States in connection with the 1983 bombing of the American and French embassies in Kuwait."
They don't venture a guess as to why he hasn't been turned over.
If you've forgotten, Colin Powell declared that the war in Afghanistan would start if the then-leaders of Afghanistan (Taliban) did not turn over Osama bin Laden.
Now here the US government is providing billions to the Iraqi government, taking sides in a civil war to prop up the puppet government, and the country can't even hand over a suspect in multiple bombings?
The reporters note a recent "tense confrontation" between the militias and the Iraqi forces (please note, they are one and the same, Haider brought them in as government forces).
First, heavily armed police, led by the interior minister, waded into a Shiite militia base south of Baghdad and arrested its deputy commander, accused of organizing attacks on Sunni mosques. They loaded the man, Ali Reda, into an armored SUV.Then militia reinforcements descended, surrounded the police and demanded Reda be freed. Weapons were drawn. The minister, Mohammed al-Ghabban, the highest figure in Iraq's police force, frantically called Baghdad from inside his SUV.
So attempts to arrest a Shi'ite militia member were thwarted.
Want to pretend again that it was a good idea to bring these thugs back?
Again, they were outlawed.
They should have remained outlawed.
Instead, they were brought back.
The Islamic State, in this analogy, would be the Trojan Horse that allowed these militias to return.
Encouraged by the US government and by vast amounts of fear, Haider al-Abadi brought the militias back and brought them into the government.
And some of the same neocons in the US who urged on the Iraq War could often be found applauding this.
Some -- not all. Many conservative writers for COMMENTARY saw problems in real time. But they were the exception on the right-wing.
Over here on the left?
It sure is lonely over here on the left.
Barack's president so the bulk of the left says nothing day after day.
They've had a sore throat, apparently, since January 2008.
But then again, if you spent every day going down on Barack, you'd probably have a sore throat -- and possibly need to cough up a few pubes.
Over here on the left, the position has largely been to say nothing but when forced to briefly talk (or Tweet) about Iraq to fall back to Bully Boy Bush.
As though, in 2016, we still need to blame BBB for the ongoing Iraq War.
Apparently, BBB put the government on autopilot before he finally left the White House and no one knows how to change that.
So we're all going to crash and it's apparently going to be BBB's fault because no one ever taught Barack how to fly the plane.
Oh starlight, star bright
You've got the lovin' that I like all right
Turn this crazy bird around
I shouldn't have got on this flight tonight
I'm drinking sweet champagne
Got the headphones up high
Can't numb you out
Can't drum you out of my mind
They're playing "Goodbye baby, Baby Goodbye
Ooh ooh love is blind"
Up go the flaps down go the wheels
I hope you got your heat turned on baby
I hope they finally fixed your automobile
I hope it's better when we meet again baby
Starlight, star bright
You got the lovin' that I like all right
Turn this crazy bird around
I shouldn't have got on this flight tonight
-- "This Flight Tonight," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her album BLUE
Shouldn't have got on this flight tonight, indeed.
Iraq is an after thought for the left.
It used to be brought up to bash Bully Boy Bush and Hillary Clinton.
But now the whores are saying Hillary must not be questioned.
So it's just used to bash Bully Boy Bush.
Which goes a long, long way towards explaining why so many 'voices' on the left cannot speak of Iraq today either factually or intelligently -- even as the press is filled with even more reports of even more US troops being sent to Iraq.
We'll close with these Tweets.
Bernie Sanders
In 2003, I voted against the War in Iraq. It was a hard vote to cast when so many were calling for war.
Historical Pics
We invaded Iraq 13 years ago today. We must ask ourselves: are we more or less safe because of that war?
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
