Sunday, August 27, 2023

Who's running Iraq?

Last week, we noted that the US Ambassador to Iraq met with former prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki.

Seems like everyone's meeting with him now.



Turkey had their big meet-up with Iraqi officials.  Who would've guessed that one of the officials Fidan would meet with would be Nouri al-Maliki?

Throughout 2020, the US media acted as though Nouri we were dead.  We pointed out that he was very much in the mix, that he was working against Moqtada al-Sadr and, in fact, he helped derail the cleric and cult leader's press proclaimed march to success.

Moqtada couldn't form a government.  He was outfoxed by Nouri.  They're sworn enemies and this goes back two decades now.  

Iraq's about to hold provincial elections.  Let's hope the US media is aware of the mistakes that they made when covering the parliamentary elections.  Let's hope.

They made predictions that never came true.  And there were many of us saying in real time that they weren't factoring in Nouri.  


A few e-mails are asking about the online rally for Julian Assange that took place Saturday.  I don't see any coverage of it.  I wasn't part of it.  Avatar and all that?  No, that's for people younger than I.  Hope it was a success and maybe there will be some coverage tomorrow.  


Marjorie Cohn is a professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California. She has authored publications arguing against the legality of the 2003 US military intervention in Iraq as well as the US-led NATO interventions into Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia. Professor Cohn is also a national board member of Assange Defense, a coalition dedicated to opposing the extradition of Julian Assange, the co-founder of WikiLeaks. In an interview with JURIST Assistant Editor Pitasanna Shanmugathas, Cohn explains why she opposes the extradition of  Assange to the United States, arguing that his prosecution under the Espionage Act would constitute a violation of the First Amendment.

JURIST: To readers of JURIST who may not be aware, tell us, who is Julian Assange, and what are some of the key revelations that his organization, Wikileaks, is responsible for bringing to public attention?

Professor Marjorie Cohn: Julian Assange is a publisher and co-founder of WikiLeaks. In 2010-2011, they revealed evidence of U.S. war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. Those revelations included the “Iraq War Logs” — 400,000 field reports including 15,000 unreported deaths of Iraqi civilians, as well the as systematic rape, torture and murder after U.S. forces handed over detainees to a notorious Iraqi torture squad. They contained the “Afghan War Diary” — 90,000 reports of more civilian casualties by coalition forces than the U.S. military had reported. And they included the “Guantánamo Files,” 779 secret reports with evidence that 150 innocent people had been held at Guantánamo Bay for years, and 800 men and boys had been tortured and abused, in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. WikiLeaks also released the notorious 2007 “Collateral Murder Video,” depicting a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter target and kill 11 unarmed civilians, including two Reuters journalists and a man who came to rescue the wounded. Two children were injured. The video contains evidence of three violations of the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Army Field Manual.

JURIST: Why has Julian Assange been incarcerated in Belmarsh Prison in the United Kingdom, and do you believe there is any chance his legal team will be successful in fighting his extradition to the United States?

Cohn: The Trump administration indicted Julian Assange for violations of the Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for revealing U.S. war crimes. He faces 175 years in prison if extradited to the United States, tried and convicted. The UK arrested Assange and is holding him in Belmarsh Prison pending a decision on whether he should be extradited to the U.S. to stand trial. A UK district court judge denied extradition after finding that Assange’s mental health was so frail that he would likely commit suicide if extradited to the U.S. because of the harsh conditions of confinement he would face. The UK High Court reversed that ruling and Assange’s lawyers have appealed on several grounds, including violations of the UK-U.S. Extradition Treaty and the European Convention on Human Rights. Assange’s appeal is pending in the UK High Court. If he loses there, he can file an appeal in the European Court of Human Rights.

JURIST: In 2017, then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo branded Wikileaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence service” and denied that Julian Assange had First Amendment protection. Why is Pompeo wrong? How is the United States Justice Department’s prosecution of Julian Assange a violation of the First Amendment?

Cohn: Pompeo said, “Julian Assange has no First Amendment privileges. He is not a U.S. citizen.” But the Supreme Court has long held that the Constitution applies to non-Americans, not just U.S. citizens. And when the Obama Justice Department considered prosecuting WikiLeaks, they were concerned that it would violate the First Amendment. The Obama administration was unable to distinguish what Wikileaks did from what the New York Times and the Guardian did since they also published documents that Chelsea Manning had leaked.

JURIST: Those who support Pompeo’s view would assert that a distinction should be made between publishing and espionage. They would argue that Julian Assange, through leaking the classified information, engaged in espionage rather than publishing. Your thoughts?

Cohn: On November 28, 2022, The New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, DER SPIEGEL and El País signed a joint open letter calling on the Biden administration to drop the Espionage Act charges against Assange. They wrote, “Publishing is not a crime,” and noted that Assange is the first publisher to be charged under the Espionage Act for revealing government secrets.


On THIRD.  Ava and I've written our piece -- we're not changing it or adding to it.  We wish THIRD were publishing right now.  But there are at least three features that aren't complete right now.  There's one I think people will enjoy (that is finished) where they're going year by year and picking the album of each year.  Ava and I talked to Marcia and Rebecca about their summer book review -- that's a transcript piece that needs to be typed up.  I'm tired and not willing to stay up any longer.  I think others feel the same so it'll probably go up Monday night.

The following sites updated:






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