Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Iraq snapshot

Wednesday, September 26, 2018.  Oh, that lovely free press that always sees the minority view of the rich and powerful, right?


If you wonder why so many are attempting to destroy Jeremy Corbyn, look no further than today's speech.

Britain's foreign policy is no longer sustainable, Jeremy Corbyn tells the Labour party conference. "No more reckless wars of intervention, like Iraq or Libya. It means putting negotiations before confrontation", he says. Watch live:



Hesitate, even for a moment, to cheer endless war and you'll anger many.

And, of course, a whorish press will help you out.

A whorish press.  What did STARS AND STRIPES say in that pisssy little e-mail they wrote a few years ago?  They were upset with Ruth and what she'd written about their coverage.  They just report the facts, they insisted.

Hmm?  I said they offered opinion in their journalism and Ruth was right to call them out for presenting opinion as fact.  They replied back that they never presented opinion as fact.


  1. ICYMI: Alejandra Juarez, the wife of an Iraq War veteran, was deported last month. She wants the world to know this is what deportation looks like. “Maybe if I tell my story I can help someone else,” she says.



Before we get to the story, the photo's not available above.  It's a trashy woman who is not trying to claim that she lives in fear in Mexico and gives a false name and won't allow her picture to be taken.  I didn't think I could have less respect for Alejandra Juarez but there she is, in a photo, hiding her face by turning it and wearing large sun glasses.  In the story, she's explaining that she's a target and must conceal herself.  And there's her daughter . . . in the same photo . . . face fully visible.  I knew Alejandra was trash, I just didn't know she was trash that would risk her own daughter's life. 


Clear the decks, America, we've just found Mom of the Year.

And Diana Cahn, well she's going for biggest presstitute in the world.  Alejandra was not deported.  She was facing deportation and stated she would leave on her own.  That is publicly known.  What's not publicly known is that she doesn't live where she said she would in Mexico.  Cahn offers a sort of on that.  But here's reality, the spouses of US military members who had been deported?  They couldn't stand her and she had to move.  When that was passed on, I sat on it.  I wasn't planning to use it but if Alejandra's going to continue to make a spectacle of herself, let's talk about it.

So the woman with the stick up her ass gets to the community and quickly makes clear that she's better than the others deported.  She makes that clear repeatedly.  They don't get why she's better -- she's not better -- but they get that she's an ass.  And they make it clear that they don't want her as a neighbor.

What Cahn doesn't make clear is that Alejandra's still just about herself.

That's why she had Anglo White support from celebrities but not support from the community that works on immigration rights.  She's not about immigration rights she's about rights for herself.  That's why she and her husband could -- and did -- support anti-immigrant Donald Trump for president.

Cahn's a liar and a con and STARS AND STRIPES needs to issue multiple corrections for this awful article.  First correction, of course, is for claiming she was deported.  Facing deportation, she chose to leave.  Second correction?  They should state, "Diana Cahn is a whorish liar and we regret ever publishing her crap."  That's because Diana Chan's lies fail to tell readers that Alejandra was deported -- in the 90s.  And she was told it was a felony if she came back in.

She chose to come back.  That's on her.  In 2013 -- also not mentioned in the article -- she was informed she would be deported.  She had five years to work on that.  She had five years to speak out for immigrant rights.  She had five years to vet politicians for the positions on immigrant rights. 

But, hey, she wanted to support Donald Trump.  Looks like she got what she deserved.  She really needs to close her mouth now.  Even now, it's all about Alejandra.  Even now.  /That's why she was forced out of the community she planned to live in. 

That was the only thing newsworthy about her story -- so, of course, Cahn  makes sure not to include it.  But then Cahn's not reporting, she's doing a press release for Alejandra.  She's typing up everything that woman says and presenting it as factual when the bulk of it is lies.  That's how you get fake news, boys and girls.  Whorish press members who don't do the work their profession requires.  They're stenographers.  Nothing more.

For those who missed it, all US laws are supposed to be suspended for Alejandra because she's married to a man who served in Iraq.

Iraq has enough liars in the press -- that's how they sold the illegal war.  The liars continue to lie.  Yes, that includes Patrick Cockburn who never met a Sunni he didn't hate.  Let's look at his latest bit of creative writing.


Mr Abadi’s fate had been in the balance since he did unexpectedly badly in the general election on 12 May when his coalition came in third. 

Unexpectedly?  By whom?  We knew here and said here that he had no successes to run on and that corruption was the biggest issue to voters -- we said that before the May 12 elections.

So it wasn't unexpected to us.  Now maybe to two-bit whores who repeat -- as fact -- the desires of the US State Dept -- maybe to them it was unexpected.


Security in Iraq has much improved since the defeat of Isis and over the last six months it has been the best since 2003.


Based on what?  Western press reports?  Because kidnappings happen daily in Iraq -- and are covered by the local press -- but never make it into the western press. 

Based on what?  The United Nations?  The same cowardly group that stopped counting violence in Anbar because the Iraqi government objected?  The same cowardly organization that then stopped counting the deaths of police and security groups because the Iraqi government objected?

At this rate, the already laughable UN issued monthly death toll isn't even worth noting.  We've skipped it for two months now and no one's complained.  Because it's not accurate and it doesn't try to be accurate.  It tries to please the Iraqi government.  Whose world, UN, whose world?

Peaceful protests grew violent with 27 people killed as government and party offices, with the exception of Sairoon, were set ablaze as well as the Iranian consulate. 


Oh, that's when they grew violent, Patrick Cockburn?

Now might be a good time to remind everyone that Patrick's brother Alexander was a climate change denier and used COUNTERPUNCH to pimp that nonsense.  Now Alex loved to ride the high horse.  He went after Jason what's his name who had stated in a report that Karl Rove was about to be charged by a grand jury.  They had standards at COUNTERPUNCH, thundered Alex in a really dumb column, explaining how they'd never publish a Jason Leopold.  Except, as I reminded Alex over the phone, they had published Jason -- several times.  I could take Alex because you could confront him with something and, if you could make your point, he'd agree with you.

Patrick lives in his own little world.  (I'm neutral on Laura Flanders -- trust me, I am being neutral -- and on Andrew.  On Andrew's little girl?  Someone has to pay for the family sins and it was my pleasure to help ensure that her career came to a standstill.)

It's a strange little world.  In Patrick's world, things are only violent if institutions -- like a consulate -- is set on fire.

When protesters are shot dead, that's not violent to Patrick.  When the internet is shut down to prevent the world from knowing of the violence, that's not violent to Patrick.  For the month of July and the month of August, protesters are wounded and killed and that's not violent.  But, come September, a consulate set on fire is violence, please understand, to Patrick, bullets that kill innocent protesters are not.



Soad al-Ali, who has been involved in organising protests demanding better services in Iraq's Basra, has been shot dead by masked gunmen.


Patrick won't see that as violent either -- no consulate was set ablaze.


  1. 🔴Moments when gunmen assassinated Dr.Suad Al Ali, a civil and human rights activist in Basra, she was one of the participants in the protests earlier in the month.
    0:31
    5,149 views
  2. Iraqi activist who helped organise Basra protests shot dead in broad daylight


She's been assassinated because she chose to take part in the protests.  That's not violence to Patrick Cockburn.





: Security forces responded harshly to protests in southern , killing over 50 demonstrators ⇒



That wasn't violence, not to Patrick.  It's only violence if a consulate is set on fire.


What a proud moment for the Cockburn family.


  1. A female activist has been shot dead in the southern Iraqi city of , which has seen violent anti-govt protests in recent weeks. Video posted online appears to show an unidentified man opening fire at Suad al-Ali as she gets into a car.
    0:17
    277 views
  2. Suad al-Ali was involved in organizing protests demanding better services in Basra. Some attribute her killing to Iran. I recall that lists of activists who participated in the protests that hit Tehran's interests, were published in Iranian media.






  1. Iraqi NGO member and civil society activist assassinated today in - Dr Suad al Hili. - theres a worrying trend of targeted attacks on organisers and activists associated with Basra protests


It is a worrying trend . . . unless you're Patrick Cockburn.


Suad Al-Ali, the human rights activist who was killed in . Pics from . You can never bring to a nation, it is just born like a new brain cell!
 


The real danger is the Patrick Cockburns.  They only sound the alarms, they only care, when an institution like a consulate is attacked.  They don't give a damn about people being attacked, about people being killed.


Oh my lord.. Dr. Suad Al-Ali was murdered in broad daylight in central Basra today. She was a well-known Human Rights activist. May her soul rest in peace.



When the people are under attack, always know that a Patrick Cockburn will helicopter in to . . . denounce them and protect the governments that oppress and threaten.




  1. Yesterday, protesters carried a banner with photos of PM Haider al-Abadi & former Operations Commander Jamil al-Shimmari, promising to legally pursue them for killing protesters. The banner also stated that Shimmari killed the young men who participated in .
  2. A powerful message from , today: The banner shows a hand-cuffed protester signing a promise in front of an arresting officer holding a bat; the promise note reads: “We will not shut up.”



THIRD?  I think they're done.  It's explained in the editorial but Beth called saying she had a ton of e-mails asking what was going on?  Briefly, Ava and I finished our piece Sunday morning.  We did not want to take part in the editorial and told them to do without us.  The editorial has been the hold up.  Late last night, we agreed to be part of it and it was written -- 90 minutes, it took that damn long -- this morning.  There should be no more hold up.  Beth knows THIRD can run late as do most community members.  Their concern was the other sites.  I think the editorial and the argument over it is part of the reason.  A lot of people were getting upset.

That's not why we agreed to do it.  We agreed because Senator Patty Murray made some dumb statements on TV.  That's not, "Oh, we" Ava and C.I. "are so much smarter than Patty!"  That's, "We've made those same dumb statements.  We're wrong."  So we agreed to take part in the editorial.




We'll close with this from Senator Johnny Isakson's office:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Amanda Maddox, 202-224-7777
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Marie Gordon, 770-661-0999

Isakson: Peace Corps Reforms Headed to President’s Desk
Legislation builds on Isakson’s previous ‘Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act’

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., praised the Senate’s unanimous passage of bipartisan legislation he introduced to reform the U.S. Peace Corps by improving access to medical care for volunteers, strengthening accountability and oversight, and enhancing procedures to reduce the risk of crime where volunteers serve.

The legislation, H.R.229, the Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018, builds on previous reforms made by Isakson’s Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act to further protect volunteers. It passed the U.S. House unanimously on July 10, and after passing the Senate by voice vote on Monday, Sept. 24, it now heads to the president’s desk to be signed into law.

“I appreciate my colleagues’ commitment to providing greater protection and safety for our Peace Corps volunteers whose work and goodwill produce results for both the communities they serve and the United States,” said Isakson. “I hold our Peace Corps volunteers in high regard, and I’m thankful that this legislation that honors the memory of Nick Castle has passed the Senate and will soon be signed into law.”

The Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018 is named in memory of Nick Castle, a 23-year-old Brentwood, Calif., volunteer who lost his life in 2013 while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in China. It was later determined by the inspector general that flaws in Castle’s medical care and in the response to his illness contributed to his death. The bill title also honors former U.S. Representative Sam Farr, who served as a congressman from California from 1993-2017 and was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer for two years in Colombia in the 1960s.

Isakson’s previous Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act was enacted into law in 2011 and was named after the 24-year-old Georgia woman who was murdered in 2009 while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin. Upon learning of Puzey’s death and the circumstances surrounding it, Isakson has long fought for the rights of Peace Corps volunteers and justice for Puzey and her family.

Isakson introduced an earlier version of the legislation on Jan. 10, 2018, with U.S. Senators Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Chris Coons, D-Del. It passed the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations by voice vote on Feb. 7, 2018, as the Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018.

The Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018 was amended by the U.S. House and contains the following key provisions:

Peace Corps volunteer support:
·         Ensures the Peace Corps hires well-qualified personnel capable of administering effective health care services for volunteers;
·         Provides the director the authority necessary to appropriately review and evaluate the performance of all current medical staff;
·         Requires the director to implement recommendations made by the Peace Corps inspector general and report progress to Congress; and
·         Extends existing health care coverage for service-related injuries through three months after volunteers return from service.

Peace Corps oversight and accountability:
·         Provides volunteers with direct access to the inspector general;
·         Requires the director to notify Congress of the opening or closure of offices and country programs; and
·         Requires public disclosure of the results of volunteer surveys on satisfaction in each country in which volunteers serve, as well as the early termination rate.

Crime risk reduction:
·         Requires the director make evidence and information regarding a volunteer’s death available to the inspector general in order to facilitate an independent review of such incidents;
·         Maintains records verifying each individual has completed the training required by the Peace Corps Act;
·         Provides applicants with information regarding crimes and risks to volunteers in the country in which they are invited to serve;
·         Permanently authorizes the Office of Victim Advocacy, first authorized by the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act; and
·         Extends and enhances other expiring programs, first authorized by the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act, that provide services to volunteers who have been victims of sexual assault.

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Description: Description: cid:image001.gif@01CB9C61.36E8FA70
AMANDA MADDOX
Communications Director

OFFICE OF UNITED STATES SENATOR JOHNNY ISAKSON
131 Russell Senate Office Building | Washington, DC 20510
phone: 202.224.3643 | fax: 202.228.0724



Visit Johnny’s website to learn more about his work in the Senate and to sign up for his newsletter.