The Common Ills: Iraq snapshot

Friday, October 12, 2018

Iraq snapshot

Friday, October 11, 2018.

Starting with a topic we've been covering for a week now . . .

Muhammad Al-mutairi, a 15 year old kid from Iraq was filmed being tortured, and murdered. Because they suspected he was gay.
His last words were "I want to see my mother"
May his soul Rest In Peace  pic.twitter.com/f1nibxo1lQ

2 replies38 retweets49 likes

In Iraq, the LGBTQ community is being targeted yet again. Ahmad Majed Mutairi was murdered because he was perceived to be part of that community. His murder is beginning to get some serious press attention. Sara Al Shurafa (GULF NEWS) reports:

A new shocking video of a brutal murder in Iraq went viral in the past few days around the Arab world: showing a teenage boy lying down on his side, bleeding from his abdomen, and being taunted with homosexual slurs by his killer.
Ahmad Majed Mutairi, 14, known as Hamoudi Mutairi on social media, was brutally killed last weekend because he had “feminine” looks, which made his sexuality under suspicion.

According to some media reports, the teenager was on his way home at night, in Baghdad’s Yarmouk neighborhood, when his assailant attacked him with a knife, inflicting more than 7 stabs to his stomach while documenting all in a video, which later got posted on Facebook.

Tracy E. Gilchrist (THE ADVOCATE) notes:

The victim’s assailants, who stabbed him repeatedly, allegedly for appearing too feminine, according to Kurdistan 24, can be heard asking, “Who is your boyfriend?”
One of the murderers joked about the boy’s “guts” coming out of his body as the teen lay dying.
Social media users called for the condemnation of such heinous hate crimes and urged the international LGBTQ community to act.

“An innocent kid was killed in Iraq just because they suspected he was gay, I think the international community and especially the LGBTQ community should take a stand,” one Twitter user wrote.

Sara Malm (DAILY MAIL) adds:

The government has yet to comment on the brutal murder and vile video being shared online.

Several exile Iraqis have taken to Twitter to express their outrage over what the perceive as an attack on a young boy because he defied the conservative gender norms of the country.

The murder of Hamoudi al-Mutairi, also named by some news outlets as Mohammed al-Motteri, follows the deaths of four high-profile progressive Iraqis working in social media and the beauty industry in less than a month.

Nick Duffy (PINK NEWS) explains, "It is illegal to be gay in Iraq and gay people face extreme persecution from many of the factions and militant groups that hold power across the country."

‏ @ElafAli__

I wonder what Iraq is doing since this is the 5th murder in a row targeting people living their life openly on social media? How sick does one have to be to kill an innocent 14yr for acting gay? Are they looking for the suspects? Please someone in Iraq update me! #حمودي_المطيري

2 replies13 retweets35 likes

In Iraq, there have been waves of increased targeting of the LGBTQ community (and people suspected of belonging to it). These attacks are a lot like the corpses dumped in streets, when they start showing up, it indicates the violence is on the rise. It doesn't match with the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk the media offers about a 'safer' Iraq and they tend to ignore these signs as a result. But in post-US-led-invasion Iraq, that has been the pattern. What is taking place with the targeting of this community -- and the targeting of women -- is awful and appalling by itself. But the indicator aspect is equally appalling.

We've been talking about Operation Happy Talk since 2004 here and it's appalling that these waves still continue. Iraq at its supposed least violent is still violent. Instead of using a normal baseline to grade it, the press rushes to compare it to the ethnic slaughter of 2006 and 2007.

By any realistic measurement, Iraq is a failed state and violence rules there. But realistic measures won't keep selling continued occupation. Fortunately, for the occupiers, the world's press is more than willing to mask what actually happens in Iraq on those rare times they bother to cover it.

‏ @HewittNewton

Replying to @nick_nasti @BillKristol

We now have our largest embassy in the world in Iraq. Larger than Vatican city. Sounds like an occupier? The legacy of Cheney /Bush.

Oh, don't be modest. It wasn't just Bully Boy Bush and his crotch rocket Dick Cheney. It was Barack Obama and Joe Biden (they are the ones who overturned the 2010 election with The Erbil Agreement giving thug Nouri al-Maliki a second term). Barack was the one who promised US troops out of Iraq and he left, after two terms as president, with US troops . . . still on the ground in Iraq.

It's all lies and pretense. That's why Joe Biden can give Bully Boy Bush an award and why Michelle Obama can tell the world that Bully Boy Bush is her BFF.

‏Verified account @thehill

Michelle Obama: George W. Bush is my "partner in crime" http://hill.cm/lrlcxEq 

648 replies376 retweets1,037 likes

‏ @azmiftikhar123

Replying to @fbhutto

This man is MURDERER of lacs of people in Iraq. Humanity killers are shown as they are Humanity lovers.

4:46 AM - 12 Oct 2018

As Rebecca said, "stop normalizing war criminal bully boy bush." That is what is taking place and those idiots of the so-called 'resistance' may base everything on where someone stands on Trump but that's not the reality for the rest of the world, especially those areas bombed by the US government. Bully Boy Bush and Barack and, yes, Donald Trump are carrying out wars and too many Americans fails to use their voice to object or even note these continued wars and the way they destroy the lives of so many. Michelle can be BFFs with Bully Boy Bush because she cheated people out of medical services in her days back in Chicago, yes, but also because she doesn't give a s**t about war. She never spoke out against it. Her husband continued the wars.

She has everything in common with Bully Boy Bush and not one damn thing in common with peace and anti-war activists. Marcia covered this topic in "Michelle Obama needs to shut up" and Elaine in "F**k you, Joe Biden."

It's all a joke to them. The American people -- people period -- are a joke to them. Just tiny chess pawns to be moved around on the board. They don't recognize or care about the dying that they are responsible for. They don't care. They are removed from it all.

If you want to stand against violence, there's an action in DC later this month.