Journalist Maan ALJizzani notes assassinated activist Ihab al-Wasni.
The Tweet reads, "Who killed me [Ihab]? Qasem Muslah."
May 9th, Ihab was assassinated -- after an earlier an earlier assassination attempt in December 2019 failed to kill him (but did kill activist Fahim al-Taie). He was the latest in a long line of assassiantions and murders of activists in Iraq since the start in fall 2019 of The October Movement.
No one has been punished for these murders. Politicians like Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi have given lip service but done nothing . . . until this week. al-Kahimi ordered the arrest of militia commander Qasem Muslah for the assassinations of Ihab and Fahim. Qasem Muslah is a leader of a militia (Popular Mobilization Force). For some background on Qasem Muslah you can refer to this Twitter thread from ALJAZEERA's Shelly Kittleson. The militia's response? To issue demands:
The militia's response was to issue demands and to threaten as well as AP explaineds:
Shortly
after the arrest, forces affiliated with the PMF, which maintains
offices inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, were deployed
surrounding Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's headquarters.
Tensions
reached fever pitch when Iraqi security forces and the elite
Counter-Terrorism Service were deployed to protect the government and
diplomatic missions, sparking fears of violence. Some armed PMF factions
gathered around the Green Zone's entrance gates.
A riot takes place in DC on January 6th and idiots like AOC claim they were in 'combat' but armed forces circle the leader of Iraq to threaten him, intimidate him and bully him and the US network news can't be bothered to inform the American people. Let's be honest, we paid for the blood, we paid for the damage, we paid for the killing. The War Crimes Show goes on in Iraq and it's still funded by US tax dollars. Maybe the American people have a right -- an obligation -- to see how this experience is continuing. Maybe they have a right to note exactly what tragedies their tax dollars bought?
It wasn't freedom that was purchased with US tax dollars nor was it democracy.
Tallha Abdulrazq weighs in at THE WASHINGTON POST:
This week, less than five months before the nation is due to elect its new leaders, Shiite militias loyal to Iran besieged the Green Zone, Baghdad’s heavily fortified diplomatic quarter, demanding the federal authorities release one of their commanders who was arrested on terrorism charges. The fact that Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is under immense pressure to capitulate to these demands in the midst of a mass demonstration against militia impunity is a clear indication that Iraq is being held hostage by a transnational Shiite jihadist network commanded and controlled from Iran.
The near-total disintegration of Iraq as a functioning state has been on full display for a number of years, but has become markedly more observable since Iraqi demonstrators sparked a protest movement in 2019 that has reignited once more in recent days after years of corruption, catastrophic governance and subservience to foreign interests, particularly Iran and the United States, has gone unaddressed. Making matters worse this time is the fact that Shiite militias, including U.S.-designated terror group Kataeb Hezbollah, have been implicated in dozens of politically motivated attempted murders and assassinations despite government assurances of justice.
On May 10, Ahmed Hassan, a journalist who had criticized the militias, was shot in the head in the southern city of Diwaniyah. A day earlier, Ihab al-Wazni, a prominent organizer of the 2019 protest movement, was gunned down outside his home in Karbala, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest cities. Wazni’s family blamed Qasem Musleh, a senior commander in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which has strong links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). That led to Musleh’s arrest on the orders of the federal authorities, who were keen to show that they were acceding to the protesters’ demands for an end to militia impunity.
However, Musleh may soon be back out on the streets after PMF fighters armed to the teeth besieged the Green Zone, demanding he is set free or else there would be violent consequences. Kadhimi has once again shown that he cannot bring these militant groups under control, just as he could not bring the killers of his friend and renowned terrorism expert Hisham al-Hashimi to justice when he was assassinated last year.
Where the hell is the US broadcast media? Amy Goodman is as worthless as Rachel Maddow -- they're both whores for money who pose and preen and love the sound of their own voices. People live in danger, they're shot in the streets on camera -- Ihab's assasssination was recorded by video cameras -- and these jaw boners can fill up the airwaves with gas baggery about nonsense and bulls**t partisan crap -- who the f**k cares if some Republican insulted AOC? -- while ignoring real life or death issues. It's disgusting and it's what makes people both parties in the US. This inability to focus on real issues and instead blather on about 'This side di this and this side that and vote for crap because our crap is better than their crap!'
It's garbage and people are dying while this garbage makes the airwaves.
Did we really forget the point Jon Stewart made all those years ago?
Because CROSSFIRE continues to this day. It's just now CROSSFIRE has split up from a partisan Democrat and a partisan Republican shouting at each other -- no, now each side has their own network and they shout into the camera and pretend to be so damn righteous and so caring but don't buy that s**t. People who truly care would give a damn about what's going on in Iraq.
Iran-backed militias have adopted arm-twisting tactics against the Iraqi government after one of its top commanders Qasem Musleh was arrested on May 26.
In the past two days, hordes of Shiite militias have arrived in Baghdad and encircled the capital city's high-security area called the Green Zone, where foreign embassies, diplomatic missions and the government's top headquarters are located.
The arrest of Hashd al Shaabi commander Qasem Musleh came on the heels of a prominent social activist Ihab Jawad Al-Wazni's assassination in the city of Karbala on May 9.
According to regional experts, the will of Iran-backed militias have largely prevailed over the Iraqi government ever since the US withdrawal from the country began in 2007, and it's now become increasingly hard for the government to rein in these armed groups.
I'm not in the mood for the many whores in the US media to pretend that they do an actual job or that they deliver news (they host talk shows, that's all they do). I'm just not in the mood.
Personal note, had the second shot of the vaccine yesterday. Feeling even worse than after the first one. I'll try to go into the public e-mail account (common_ills@yahoo.com) and post anything sent in but this may be a slower weekend than usual.
For those who missed the comments on the first vaccine -- four weeks ago -- I am taking the vaccine. That is my decision. Every adult needs to make their own. And people need to stop trying to shame others because that never really works -- outside of an S&M dungeon. If you want to encourage others, by all means do. But stop pretending attempts to shame are any way helpful. For those late to the party -- my medical issues include being an insulin dependent diabetic and someone on chemotherapy. In addition, when the shot became available as I was having eye surgery (like what US House Rep Dan Crenshaw recently had and, thankfully his surgery appears to have gone well). People like me could not immediately get the shot since we were dealing with a myriad of medical problems. Stop trying to shame people. Stop thinking because you see someone's face, you know their medical history and suddenly possess a medical degree. You don't and you don't.
The following sites updated:
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Jimmy Dore, SUPERMAN & LOIS17 hours ago
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The Dominic Cummings Show20 hours ago
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Kevin Bacon1 day ago
