Saturday, August 20, 2022

Iraq continues to suffer due to another Moqtada hissy fit

A new story out of Iraq, AP reports:


The U.S. Air Force said Saturday it was the subject of a “propaganda attack” by a previously unheard-of Iraqi militant group that falsely claimed it had launched a drone attack targeting American troops at an air base in Kuwait.

The statement by the Air Force’s 386th Air Expeditionary Wing came hours after the group calling itself Al-Waretheen, or “The Inheritors,” put out an online statement claiming that on Aug. 12, it targeted Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Air Base. The statement included a video showing a drone being launched from a stand, but offered no evidence of an attack or any damage done at the base. 


The Inheritors?  Never heard of them.  Are they for real?  Did they launch a prank?  Did they launch an attack?  


In continuing news, the political stalemate remains.  October 10th, Iraq held elections.  All these months later, they have failed to name a prime minister or a president.  MEMO notes:


Sabreen Khalil lost her husband to COVID last year, leaving her to raise seven children alone, but Iraqi government funding to help her and hundreds of thousands of families in poverty is blocked by political stalemate, Reuters reports.

With politicians deadlocked over forming a new government since an election in October, rival Shia Muslim factions in Baghdad, on Friday, continued their weeks-long protests which have prevented Parliament from meeting.

The standoff has raised fears of renewed unrest in a country where militias wield significant power and is already taking a toll on the most vulnerable.

"I am a woman and, all of a sudden, I had to take the responsibility of seven children alone … it broke my back," Khalil said, speaking of the impact of her husband's death.

Sitting on the floor in her one-bedroom brick house in the village of Saada on the outskirts of Baghdad, she said she cannot afford treatment for her chronic illness and that her children have to skip some meals as food prices soar.


People are suffering and many are blaming cult leader Moqtada al-Sadr who took months and months to form a government and failed over and over.  He then stomped his feet and had all of his MPs resign from Parliament.  They have been replaced with the second runners up in the October vote.  Now he wants the Parliament dissolved by the judiciary who has responded that only Parliament has the power to dissolve itself.  The United Nations has called for dialogue.  Iraq's caretake prime minister echoed that call and organized a meet up this past week.


Guess who chose not to participate?


That's right, cry baby Moqtada.


And yet, he now tries to issue another demand.  PRESS TV notes:


Prominent Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr says he has submitted a proposal to the United Nations to hold a public debate with all political factions in Iraq, as the country’s political crisis continues to deepen.  

In a post on his Twitter account on Saturday, Sadr wrote that he has not received a tangible response from the Iraqi political parties in this regard, adding that their response did not address the demands of the people or the revolutionaries.  


No dialogue unless he controls it?  Yes, he's blocking movement again while the Iraqi people suffer.  And why does he want to be in charge of a dialogue anyway?  Mid-week he explained he boycotted the meeting of various political heads because "I will not sit with the corrupt and those who want evil."  Unless, of course, he can be in charge.


The following sites updated:







at