The Common Ills: Iraq snapshot

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Iraq snapshot

Thursday, May 25, 2017. As The Mosul Slog continues, we're going to underscore that the new Judith Miller is a danger -- and the stooges who support her are dangers as well.

Day 218 of The Mosul Slog.

‏ @iraqi_day

#PMU advancing toward Baaj west #Mosul on the 3 fronts, multiple villages have been stormed. #Iraq

1 reply23 retweets47 likes

Day 218 and still it continues.

BBC NEWS reports:

Iraq has opened an inquiry into claims that its forces abused and killed civilians in the battle for Mosul against so-called Islamic State (IS).

An interior ministry statement said it would take legal measures against anyone proven to have been "negligent".
It comes after Der Spiegel published an article by a photojournalist who was embedded with the ministry's troops.
Ali Arkady says he took pictures of detainees suspended from ceilings and that others were tortured and raped.

Wait, wait! Abuses? And it wasn't reported by Rukmini Callimachi?

Of course, it wasn't reported by her. She's THE NEW YORK TIMES' new Judith Miller -- as we pointed out February 10th.

Rukmini is very popular with Glenn Greenwald but then so was the Iraq War once upon a time.

Rukmini poured propaganda out her blow hole and the usual saps lapped it up like it was 2002 all over again.

Rukmini Callimachi fans should be suspect.

Especially if, like Glenn Greenwald, they got it wrong in real time (he supported the Iraq War).

There's a barrier between those people and critical thought.

REUTERS notes:

Iraq's interior minister on Wednesday ordered an investigation into allegations that members of the security forces had tortured, killed and abused civilians in the campaign to oust Islamic State militants from Mosul.
The inquiry was in response to a report by the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel last week that included images of apparent torture taken by a freelance photographer embedded with the Interior Ministry's elite Emergency Response Division (ERD).

Photographs showed detainees accused of affiliation with Islamic State hanging from the ceiling with their arms bent behind them, and the journalist wrote of prisoners being tortured to death, raped and stabbed with knives.

‏ @doamuslims

#Iraq - SPIEGEL photographer Ali Arkady documents Iraqi security forces abducting, torturing, raping, & killing Sunnis around #Mosul.

7 replies169 retweets61 likes

Rukmini was too busy socializing to get the job done. But, hey, she got a lot of free meals, didn't she?

Chad Garland (STARS AND STRIPES) notes:

Under a law known as the Leahy law, the U.S. is prohibited from supporting units accused of human rights abuses for which “credible” evidence exists. Officials with the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition could not confirm the allegations against the Iraqi forces but said the United States does not currently train or equip the Emergency Response Division.
“Any violation of the law of armed conflict would be unacceptable and should be investigated in a transparent manner,” the U.S.-led international coalition in Iraq said in a statement. “Prime Minister (Haider al-Abadi) has stated that he has a zero-tolerance policy for any improper action by the Iraqi Security Forces and would thoroughly investigate any such allegations.”

RT adds:

In the article, which was in stark contrast to Western reporting from Mosul, the photographer claimed that the ERD persecuted numerous civilians on “vague” suspicions of links with IS.
The piece included photos by Arkady of people hanging from the ceiling with their arms tied up behind their backs, as well as other torture scenes.
The victims were picked up during night raids, which included rape and looting, and taken to villages outside Mosul where there were no foreign journalists, he said.

Oh, Rukmini.

If only someone could have warned us in real time that Rukmini was reporting lies . . .

Oh, wait.

I did.

But don't worry, Rukmini will be fine. (A) THE NEW YORK TIMES has lied about Iraq repeatedly and (B) Glenn Greenwald will continue to support her.

At some point, the world's going to notice that except for the Ed Snowden dumped in his lap, Glenn's not accomplished anything.

As Rebecca asked earlier this week "remember when 'the intercept' was supposed to be an important outlet? "

No start-ups had more money and no start-up has done less.

At this point, he's making Tina Brown's TALK look like an investigative journal.

The following community sites -- plus PACIFICA EVENING NEWS -- updated: