Sunday, November 20, 2022

Iraq -- Turkey bombs Kurdistan again, more coverage of 'the heist of the century,' the alarming suicide rate

THE NEW YORK TIMES notes:


Turkish fighter jets carried out dozens of airstrikes in northern Syria and Iraq on Sunday, in what Turkish officials called an antiterrorism campaign to root out militants they accused of orchestrating a deadly bomb attack last week in Istanbul.

“The scoundrels are being held accountable for the treacherous attacks!” the Turkish Defense Ministry wrote on Twitter before dawn on Sunday in a post with a photo of a warplane taking off. The strikes targeted shelters, tunnels, ammunition dumps and training camps, the ministry said.

More than two dozen people were reported to have been killed, but different groups gave different numbers, and they may not have acknowledged all the fighters killed. 

The byline? "Ben Hubbard reported from Istanbul, and Sangar Khaleel from Dohuk, Iraq. Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon, and Safak Timur from Istanbul."


No one in the byline bothered to confirm the deaths, they just accepted what the Turkish government said and called that reporting.  THE WALL STREET JOURNAL notes 11 civilians were killed.  Ajeet Kumar (REPUBLIC WORLD) notes, "At least 31 people were killed and dozens injured following Turkey's deadly airstrikes over northern regions of Syria and Iraq on Sunday."

In other news, under Iraq's previous prime minister, $2.5 billion was stolen.  It's one of the reasons that Iraq has one of the most corrupt governments in the world.  Simona Foltyn (GUARDIAN) explains:

Iraqis have called it “the heist of the century” – a brazen multibillion-dollar plundering of state coffers that has gripped the country.

The theft of $2.5bn was apparently facilitated by some of the highest offices in the land, according to sources and a series of government letters issued in the summer of 2021. The documents, signed by various government institutions including the then prime minister’s office, cancelled the audit of withdrawals from the Iraqi tax commission’s accounts.

The letters did not attract attention at the time. Iraq had been rocked by two years of turmoil and was heading for early elections. Parliament had been adjourned. The media and international community had their eyes set on the October 2021 ballot, which came on the back of mass protests demanding the toppling of a corrupt ruling elite.

But behind the scenes, the stage was set for the embezzlement of tax revenues in what has emerged as the biggest corruption scandal under the then prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s western-backed government – remarkable even for a country that ranks towards the bottom of Transparency International’s corruption index.

The $2.5bn in tax moneys was withdrawn by shell companies with almost no paper trail with the help of corrupt officials, according to an internal investigation’s 41-page report seen by the Guardian, and laundered through real estate purchases in Baghdad’s most affluent neighbourhood, according to multiple sources.

The scheme was allegedly masterminded by a well-connected businessman and executed by employees in the tax commission, who enjoyed the support of an Iran-aligned political faction called Badr, the Guardian has found.


CENTRAL BANKING adds, "An internal investigation by the finance ministry earlier this year found some of the minitry's own officials had helped embezzle around $2.5 billion.  If ound that officials had written cheques worth 3.7 trillion Iraqi dinars (around $2.5 billion) to five companies."


Meanwhile THE JERUSALEM POST notes:

 Over 700 suicides have taken place in Iraq in the past year. We must “congratulate” our politicians for this dubious milestone, which joins a long list of “achievements” they’ve secured for our nation over the past decade, including the loss of Iraq’s wealth, through the fall of Mosul, to the draining of public funds. 

The most tragic thing about these deaths is that those who committed suicide chose to take their lives for sins they did not commit. The truth is that the government has failed them: it limited their freedom, restricted their ability to breathe, denied them employment and education opportunities, and left them with no hope for a better future. 

Most of those who killed themselves are women, especially the young. Like thousands of other women across our country, they have been struggling with unemployment, depression and limited opportunities. Many developed chronic illnesses like schizophrenia, while others began using drugs. They found themselves living in an open-air prison. 


Lastly, Jacob Crosse (WSWS) reports:


As of this writing, at least five people are dead and 25 more are injured following the latest mass shooting in the United States, which occurred late Saturday evening.

The shooting took place at the Q Club, the longest operating and largest gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In a press conference Sunday, Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said that emergency services began receiving multiple calls concerning a shooting at the club at 11:56 p.m. and that police were on the scene by midnight.

Vasquez acknowledged that police did little to stop the rampage, noting that by the time police arrived, two people inside the club had already subdued the gunman.

“We owe them a great debt of thanks,” Vasquez said Sunday morning.

Police have identified the suspected shooter as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, a local resident. This author was unable to locate any social media profiles linked to Aldrich. However, this is not the first time Aldrich has had significant police contact and there is no question police knew of Aldrich before Saturday’s incident.

In June 2021, Aldrich was arrested on multiple and serious charges after his mother called the police and, according to a statement from the El Paso County, Colorado, Sheriff’s Office, warned that “her son was threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition.”

 [. . .]

Colorado Springs is politically dominated by the Republican Party, which has increasingly made anti-gay agitation a part of its right-wing propaganda, creating an atmosphere conducive to such acts of homicidal violence.

So far this year, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has documented “more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills” introduced in 23 states by Republicans, aimed at limiting the rights of transgender persons. This includes Florida’s “Don’t say gay” bill, enacted earlier this year.

Deadly attacks against LGBTQ persons have continued throughout 2022. Last Wednesday, HRC reported that at least 32 transgender people had been murdered in the US thus far in 2022, compared to 57 last year. HRC notes that the figures are likely a vast undercount, given that many trans persons are misgendered following their death.



The following sites updated:





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