This morning, Harith Hasan (ALJAZEERA) offers:
On September 1, some 150 protestors gathered at the main entrance of Iraq's large oilfield, Nahr Bin Omar, threatening to break in and disrupt production. Thousands of others assembled in front of the provincial government's headquarters in the nearby city of Basra, demanding that their grievances over service provision, unemployment and water pollution be addressed immediately.
At least six were injured in clashes with the police and 16 arrested.
These demonstrations have not been an isolated incident. Protests spread across the southern provinces of Iraq this summer, fuelled by frustration over lack of services, economic inequality and unemployment in a region full of lucrative oil deposits.
Incapable of meeting the demands of protesters, the Iraqi government has resorted to a combination of coercive measures and collective bribing. Earlier in the summer, Iraqi security forces, allied with militias, killed at least 14 protesters and arrested more than 200, while the internet was shut down to prevent communication between activists.
He wonders what the Iraqi government can do.
What Iraqi government?
May 12th, Iraq held national elections. Ahead of the elections, there had been big hopes -- these hopes included a large turnout. Ali Jawad (ANADOLU AGENCY) noted, "A total of 24 million Iraqis are eligible to cast their ballots to elect members of parliament, who will in turn elect the Iraqi president and prime minister." RUDAW added, "Around 7,000 candidates have registered to stand in the May 12 poll, with 329 parliamentary seats up for grabs." AFP explained that the nearly 7,000 candidates includes 2014 women. THE SIASAT DAILY added, of the nearly 7,000 candidates, "According to the electoral commission, only 20 percent of the candidates are newcomers." Ali Abdul-Hassan and Sinan Salaheddin (AP) reported, "Iraqi women account for 57 percent of Iraq’s population of over 37 million, according to the U.N. Development Program, and despite government efforts to address gender inequality, the situation for Iraqi women has declined steadily since 2003. According to the UNDP, one in every 10 Iraqi households is headed by a widow. In recent years, Iraqi women suffered further economic, social and political marginalization due to decades of wars, conflict, violence and sanctions."
The other big hope? For the US government, the biggest hope was that Hayder al-Abadi's bloc would come in first so that he would have a second term as prime minister. It was not to be. Mustapha Karkouti (GULF NEWS) identifies the key issues as follows, "Like in previous elections, the main concerns of ordinary Iraqis continue to be the lack of security and the rampant corruption."
As we noted the day of the election:
Corruption is a key issue and it was not a topic explored by candidates outside of Moqtada al-Sadr's coalition. Empty lip service was offered. Hayder al-Abadi, current prime minister, had been offering empty lip service for four years. He did nothing. Iraqis were supposed to think that, for example, Hayder's focus on ISIS in Mosul mattered. All life was supposed to stop because of Mosul? All expectations were to be ignored because of Mosul?
Arabic social media today and yesterday was full of comments about the lack of improvement in services. It noted how the elections had not mattered before and, yes, how in 2010 the US government overturned the elections because they didn't like the outcome.
So it was probably only surprising to the US government and their press hacks that Hayder wouldn't come in first. But that was after the votes were counted. On the day of the election, the big news was how so few were turning out to vote. NPR reported, "With more than 90 percent of the votes in, Iraq's election commission announced voter turnout of 44.5 percent. The figure is down sharply from 60 percent of eligible voters who cast their ballots in the last elections in 2014." AP pointed out the obvious, "No election since 2003 saw turnout below 60 percent." AFP broke it down even more clearly "More than half of the nearly 24.5 million voters did not show up at the ballot box in the parliamentary election, the highest abstention rate since the first multiparty elections in 2005 [. . .]."
Why should they vote? The US government had repeatedly selected the prime minister -- 2006, 2010 and 2014. Why should they vote? The government was corrupt. Why should they vote? Safety? Lip service was given to the claim that ISIS had been defeated but it hadn't. In fact, Margaret Griffis (ANTIWAR.COM) reported that 16 people were killed and nineteen wounded the day of the election.
Martin Chulov (GUARDIAN) captured the mood, "But as voters trudged towards polling stations, there was none of the euphoria of previous polls – where purple ink-dipped fingers were happily displayed – and almost no energy surrounding the process. Iraqis had done it all before, and elections had delivered little."
Sunday the 13th, votes were counted and the first place winner? Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
With over half the votes counted, powerful Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has emerged as the leading contender in the Iraq elections aje.io/drn3n
By Monday the 14th, Ayad Allawi was calling for a full recount. While the US government was working behind the scenes to overturn the results. Simon Tisdall (GUARDIAN) explained, "The unexpectedly poor showing of Haider al-Abadi, Iraq’s prime minister, in parliamentary elections has dealt a blow to US influence in the country. [. . .] Put simply, Sadr believes Iraqis should run Iraqi affairs – not Washington, not Tehran and not their proxies."
They had their recount and then some. And the results? The same as before the recount.
Which means Iraq formed the new government on . . .
Never.
It's still not been formed. Yesterday, the Parliament met for the first time and was supposed to name a president, two vice presidents, a speaker of the Parliament and, by tradition, a prime minister-designate. But nothing.
And there really isn't time to waste.
#Basra alone will need billions of dollars for proper water treatment while every city in Iraq needs equivalent amount of money. Iraq needs to build tens of new dams and use new technology to reduce water use to make up for Turkey and Iran cut in the source 1/3
- #breaking this is happening in one of the most important oil producing cities in the world Basra , Iraq. Protesters demand fresh water(yes fresh water) jobs, services. They were met with a fierce response
In the face of all of the above, they couldn't form a government. And they don't plan to today or tomorrow. Now the claim is that they will elect a Speaker of Parliament . . . September 15th.
Some see this as a good thing because the US government did not get its way.
Meanwhile, 
As Brett continues to meet, he and his supporters issue denials.
#Iraq & #Iran news sites have been circulating a photo & detailed reports claiming that U.S. C-#ISIS Envoy @brett_mcgurk met with Hadi al-Ameri to discuss election politics (RIGHT)
McGurk has just denied the meeting (& others) ever happened (LEFT).
So Brett is denying that he met in the last days with militia head Hadi al-Ameria. I have no idea whether or not Brett has met with Hadi in the last days. He has before. That picture is from before. Brett has far less hair currently. I'm not just referring to the bald spot not visible above but also the thinning at the front. That said, a past photo can be used as an illustration -- the press -- in all countries -- often does this.
Here's Brett's denial.
Okay, so this meeting and many other meetings being reported in Iraqi media over the past few days never happened. #fakemeetings @RudawEnglish
I don't usually believe Brett's denials. That makes me much smarter than the first Mrs. Brett McGurk or the present one, poor, deluded Gina.
So August 30th, Brett's insisting that meetings aren't taking place. And I doubt him. I doubt him even more when the US Secretary of State Tweets this two days later:
Just spoke with @brett_mcgurk who’s on the ground in #Baghdad representing me and @POTUS. Doing a great job. Forming a strong Iraqi government on national basis is essential to the enduring defeat of #ISIS.
Poor Brett. The world is not as stupid as the women he sleeps with. Correction: The world is not as stupid as all the women he sleeps with. All. And, Gina, that's "sleeps with" -- not "slept with." Presumably, even someone as stupid as you can do the math.
To clarify something else, Iraq's prime minister Hayder al-Abadi is insisting he is now head of the militias.
Iraqi prime minister names himself Hashd al-Sha'abi head http://ptv.io/2dBC #Iraq
The Iraq War continues even as one of its chief pimps has been buried.
Yes, War Hawk, War Monger John McCain is finally underground. Those who had to endure the crap can refer to "Burial of a Bitch (Ava and C.I.)" where Ava and I become apparently the only ones to note McCain's family history of owing slaves. Now this whole media event was a White power rally. But at some point does the press plan to step back long enough to offer reality. Fat gal Meghan McCain was pimping not just her dead father but his father's father and his father's father's father. She just neglected to note that they were a family of slave owners. I'm sure both elder McCains had a white sheet waiting for John to don.
They weren't just a slave owning family, they were a slave owning family who wanted nothing to do with the slaves. There are Black McCains. And they repeatedly invited John to family reunions. Not only did he refuse to ever appear at one -- John McCain was a well known racist, after all -- but he even denied their existence and insisted to the press that his family never owned slaves.
From CRAPAPEDIA'S "Black McCains:"
The family known in the media as the "black McCains" are the living descendants of Isom McCain (1831 – between 1888 and 1890) and Leddie McCain, African-American slaves owned in Teoc, Mississippi, by William Alexander McCain, a cotton plantation owner[1] who was the great-great-grandfather of Senator John McCain. The black McCains trace their surname to this slave ownership and neither claim nor disclaim blood relationship with Senator McCain. Among the black McCains, siblings Lillie McCain (born 1952), of Detroit, and Charles McCain, Jr. (born 1948[2]) and Mary Lou McCain Fluker, of Carrollton, Mississippi,[3] are the living contemporaries of Senator McCain.
Lillie McCain had in the past e-mailed Senator McCain to inform him about the black McCains after she heard him say on Meet the Press that his ancestors owned no slaves.[4] John McCain stated that he had not known about the slaveholding past until it was discovered by reporters during his 2000 presidential campaign.[5] The McCain plantation in Teoc, which was formally named Waverly, consisted of 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) and existed from 1848 until 1952.[5][6] The plantation had slaves before the American Civil War and sharecroppersafterward; influential blues guitarist Mississippi John Hurt was born on the plantation to one of the latter.[5]
According to The Wall Street Journal Atlanta Bureau Chief Douglas Blackmon, who researched the black McCains in 2008, the black McCains "resisted the Ku Klux Klan, led the civil rights movement and voter registration efforts in the 1960s", and "integrated public schools" in Mississippi.[4] Lillie McCain's father Charles "Jack" McCain, a World War II veteran, purchased 120 acres (0.49 km2) of land in Teoc and split it with his cousin, participating in the civil rights movement in the South, working with Stokely Carmichael when he came to Greenwood, Mississippi.[2]
Senator John McCain never met any of the black McCains. Lillie McCain said that Senator John McCain was invited to their biannual family reunion functions in Teoc, but according to the 2008 McCain presidential campaign, schedule conflicts had prevented Senator McCain from attending, though the brother of the Senator, Joseph "Joe" McCain, has attended the Teoc reunions.[4]
Old racist John McCain got buried and his fat daughter apparently forgot his history of racism, the family's history of slave owning, his history of murdering people around the world via his Senate seat and so much more.
John McCain is dead.
Heavens be praised.
New content at THIRD:
- Truest statement of the week
- Truest statement of the week II
- A note to our readers
- Editorial: The Iraq War just got worse
- TV: AMAZON peddles fear and hate
- Burial of a Bitch (Ava and C.I.)
- Jim's World
- Read a book?
- Tweet of the week
- Video to catch
- This edition's playlist