Bought.
The US government buys politicians in Iraq.
And we report it here.
And I get trashed in e-mails.
For all the Josh Rogins who strips us of our credit (look for a brief piece on Joshy at THIRD in the next edition, whores always get exposed), who cares for the most part?
But all the whiny ass e-mails about, "You lie!"
I explain that the CIA profile on Nouri al-Maliki says he's unstable and paranoid -- and do this in 2006 -- and the response is whiny e-mails from passer bys insisting it's not true.
And that I made it up.
Then, years later, WikiLeaks releases the Chelsea Manning documents and we see, goodness, that is how the US government saw him.
I spoke of Saleh Mutlaq being bought and paid for by the US for years. I spoke of how The Erbil Agreement came to be because the US government bribed Iraqi politicians.
"Bought."
That's the term we used.
And whiny ass e-mails are the response.
I just have to wonder, all these self-righteous e-mailers who insist that if whatever I say was true then THE NEW YORK TIMES would report it, do these same e-mailers ever turn around and whine to THE NEW YORK TIMES?
If so, get ready to whine again.
I said "bought."
I was right.
Then-US Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey writing to Brett McGurk and others in the US State Dept on November 8, 2010, "We have heard some rumors that this may have been successful. i.e., that the Sunni majority of Iraqiyya has been
bought by some other package and will dump allawi (and the Presidency). On the other hand from Ali Debaggah with
Maliki earlier today it sounded like the Turks were encountering hard sledding getting their plan B sold to Maliki.
I will see Allawi and (separately) Issawi and Saleh Mutlaq (!) here tonight, along with Adel Mahdi, and then I will have a
better sense of what is going on. Then will see Maliki (in'shallah) and for sure Barzani tomorrow. We will know better at
least what is in play and where the fault lines are."
This is in the heavily redacted e-mail chain.
"Bought."
That's how they've always handled Iraqi politicians.
And then not understood why the Iraqi people wouldn't accept them as their leaders.
For those who don't know the context, in March 2010, Nouri al-Maliki did not get the re-election the western press (including NPR's Quil Lawrence) had promised. Ayad Allawi's group won.
Nouri then refused to step down.
He brought the country to a political stalemate for over 8 months.
The US brokered the contract (The Erbil Agreement) that gave Nouri the second term the Iraqi people did not want him to have.
(And he used that second term to destroy Iraq even further.)
Community member Keesha long ago noted this is a private conversation in a public square.
So we're going to get passer-bys and drive-bys.
And, fortunately, I don't have to read most of the e-mails anymore (the bulk are read by Martha & Shirley).
We go more into depth in the community newsletters for a reason: I don't have to hear about all the whiny people fretting over reality intruding into their little world.
I'm not advertising. I'm not asking for money. I long ago made clear there would be no publicity for this site.
So if you're not a community member, I didn't ask you to be here.
If you're here reading, that's your decision. But stop the whiny e-mails please.
There's more than enough up here to demonstrate when I'm right and when I'm wrong. And I don't go back and change things. "Restive." I look like an idiot because I didn't know the meaning of that term. I've never gone back and changed that entry (think it's 2005). Even after a reporter e-mailed to tell me that I didn't know the word. (I did e-mail back, "You are right. What an idiot!") It makes me laugh. It happened and I'm not going to go back and change it.
We would go into a lot more here -- and we do in the newsletters -- if it weren't for all the b.s. from non-community members of "No way!"
"Bought."
That's the term and it's the term the US government uses -- just not in front of the American people.
Sorry if that shocked some of you visitors -- apparently repeatedly -- over the last seven years. But read the 2010 e-mail and you'll see the term I used was valid.
