Earlier today, Isabel Coles and Michael R. Gordon (WALL ST. JOURNAL) broke the news regarding a line in the sand -- or threat -- the US government was drawing/making in Iraq, "The Trump administration has warned Iraq it is preparing to shut down its embassy in Baghdad unless the Iraqi government stops a spate of rocket attacks by Shiite militias against U.S. interests, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Sunday, in a fresh crisis in relations between the two allies." Farhad Alaaldin (RUDAW) explains, "Baghdad’s Green Zone, which includes the American embassy, was subjected to 19 attacks with Katyusha rockets and mortars in September alone, some of which reached their targets inside the embassy’s vicinity, in addition to 25 IED attacks on convoys serving international coalition forces and an attack on a British diplomatic convoy in Baghdad on 15th of September." Louisa Loveluck, Missy Ryan and John Hudson (WASHINGTON POST) add:
“We hope the American administration will reconsider it,” Ahmed Mulla Talal, a spokesman for Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, said Sunday. “There are outlaw groups that try to shake this relationship, and closing the embassy would send a negative message to them.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Kadhimi of the plans Saturday night, according to an official familiar with the matter. Two Western officials in Baghdad said their country’s diplomatic missions had been informed of the plan.
It was unclear on Sunday whether the White House had signed off on a possible departure and what might prompt the Trump administration to shelve the plan. If the administration moves forward, closing the embassy is expected to take 90 days, a window that would give Washington the opportunity to reassess the decision, said a diplomat familiar with the situation.
Is it a real possibility or just a weak threat that won't be backed up? How serious is the US government right now? That's open to debate apparently. Justine Coleman (THE HILL) notes:
It was unclear on Sunday whether the White House had signed off on a possible departure and what might prompt the Trump administration to shelve the plan. If the administration moves forward, closing the embassy is expected to take 90 days, a window that would give Washington the opportunity to reassess the decision, said a diplomat familiar with the situation.
In related news, XINHUA reports:
The U.S. embassy in Iraq announced on Sunday that it will conduct a series of emergency tests and drills after a recent series of attacks.
"Over the course of the next two days, the U.S. embassy will be conducting a series of tests and drills of our emergency procedures and equipment," the embassy said in a statement.
The statement did not give further details about the drills, but observers believe such drills are meant to enhance the protection of the embassy to prevent the landing of mortar rounds and rockets.
At CINDY SHEEHAN'S SOAPBOX, Cindy explains:
The recent Dump Trump, then Battle Biden
piece written by Noam Chomsky, et al and signed by a few dozen liberal
activists and authors, who recycle this twaddle every four years, makes
many logical, factual, and rhetorical errors.
Arguably, the main
error is that no matter how terrible is a Democrat candidate for POTUS;
no matter how many wars he supported; no matter how many women/girls he
publicly molested; no matter how many cops went un-prosecuted; no matter
how many immigrant families were separated at the border; no matter how
many billions of dollars were transferred from the poor to the already
wealthy; no matter how much corruption and pork barrel politics have
been tied to him; and no matter how far he has gone in a state of mental
decline; etc: THAT HE OWNS OUR VOTES.
According to the letter, the signers
are not in love with Democrat candidate Joe Biden, but it seems their
only “beef” with him is that he is “beholden to the elites.” He IS
one of those political elite and has been a profound part of the
decadence and violence of the U.S. political establishment for decades
and an architect of many of the paths that led the U.S. straight to a
Trump regime.
Another rhetorical and factual error in the very
title of this piece is that after Trump is dumped that these same people
will “Battle Biden,” their very support of him waters that threat
down.s PLUS it’s been historically shown that these same liberal forces
will NOT “Battle” a Democrat. They may make peeps and squeaks during a
Democrat regime, but deep into the 3rd year of the election cycle, they
will revert to the same rubbish demonstrated in this letter.
Is Cindy right? I'd argue she is. Need one example?
Laura Flanders. In 2007 and 2008, she supported Barack Obama in the Democratic Party primaries and insisted that they'd hold Barack accountable after he got the nomination. Then it was that he'd be held accountable after the election. Then she spent eight years minimizing and excusing his actions on GRIT TV while focusing her ire on the Republican Party.
They talk a good game and they pretend that they'll do something but mainly they hope that you won't remember the reality of what they did. That would include Laura refusing to book Cindy as a guest on any of her shows after Dems were in power.
Then again, maybe Laura's just ashamed -- and should be -- of the racist segment she did on her AIR AMERICA RADIO show where she interviewed Joan Baez from Camp Casey and allowed Joan to call African-Americans "Colored" and to giggle over the use of the term?
I am Laura Flanders worst nightmare -- I forget nothing.
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