Wednesday, August 02, 2017

Iraq snapshot

Wednesday, August 2, 2017.


Both war profiteer parties are screaming that supporting diplomacy is treason. It was the same during the run-up to attacking Iraq & Libya.





Jill's right.  It's the same old story again and again and again.


And please remember Bully Boy Bush's lies included the lies about diplomacy.


It included the lies regarding weapons inspection.

It included so much.

We need to remember that so we don't come off as stupid as Ellen DeGeneres so recently did as she rushed to normalize him on her talk show.





Dog Eat Dog
It's dog eat dog
I'm just waking up
The dove is in the dungeon
And the white washed hawks
pedal hate and call it love
Dog Eat Dog
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
And big wig financiers

Dog Eat Dog
On prime time crime the victim begs
Money is the road to justice
and power walks it on crooked legs
Prime Time Crime
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
and big wig financiers

Where the wealth's displayed
Thieves and sycophants parade
And where it's made
the slaves will be taken
Some are treated well
In these games of buy and sell
And some like poor beast
Are burdened down to breaking

-- "Dog Eat Dog," written by Joni Mitchell (first appears on her DOG EAT DOG).





Link to headline article



Oh, it's not just a huge number of Britons -- it's a huge number all over the world.


And click here for ridiculous.



Oliver Miles explains to RT that it's not 'fair' for Blair to be prosecuted unless Bully Boy Bush is.

Bully Boy Bush is not a British citizen.

I don't know how Miles believes you allow a case filed by an Iraqi against Bully Boy Bush to go through in a London court.

There's a thing called jurisdiction.

Does Miles not grasp that?

Guess he also doesn't grasp that should the UK allow a case against Tony to go through, there would be pressure on other countries to allow similar actions.

So, in Australia, John Howard might be sued -- Oliver doesn't appear to remember John.

But if there's a chance to nail anyone of them, that chance should be taken.

As for 'fair'?

I believe it was bombed to death somewhere south of Baghdad in 2004.

As for Oliver?

Why is he being brought on?

He's not an expert on Iraq.

Did he protest against the war or speak out against it?

Nope.

He's a jerk who retired from office long before the Iraq War.

He could have spoken out -- he retired in 1996 -- but he chose not to.

Now he wants to say it would be unfair to prosecute only Tony and not Bully Boy Bush (again, the idiot forgets John Howard).

Don't listen to hacks like Oliver.


Meanwhile in Iraq, people talk of politics.




Nay.. nay to Iran in Iraq.. O Mullahs get out.. get out





Nay . . . nay to Iran in Iraq . . .
O Mullahs get out . . . get out
Amid all official, unofficial visits
By Iraqi officials
to Saudi Arabia
Sadr's visit is of
utmost importance,
major indications
Not only of
nature of
Saudi-Iraqi
ties currently
But also nature
of Iran's presence
in Iraq in particular
Sadr's visit
Given his charismatic
presence in Iraqi street
Has prompted all Iraqis
To demand dismantlement of Iranian
subversive project in Baghdad
And to raise three
Nays in face of Mullahs
No to Iran in Iraq, no
to Khamenei regime
No to Iranian theocracy,
no to Persian nationalism
Iraq is Arab state
As network of iran stooges
in iraq is being dismantled
Including Maliki
henchmen, IMIS, others
Let all chant as they
chanted two years ago
Iran . . . out . . . out



Dropping back to Sunday:



: Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman receives Muqtada Al-Sadr, leader of the Sadrist Movement in on Sunday


Again, though the western media ignores it, the political season has already started in Iraq.


Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr is fighting for his vision of Iraq.

Nouri al-Maliki's trip to Russia last week was about him attempting to sell himself as the leader Iraq needs.


Baria Alamuddin (ARAB NEWS) notes:

The past week saw the spectacular implosion of leading Shiite faction the Islamic Supreme Council in Iraq (ISCI). The council was put together in 1982 by Iran. It consisted of Iraqi exiles deployed to fight their own countrymen during the Iran-Iraq war. During this same period — with varying degrees of success — Iran was bankrolling militants in Lebanon, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, intended to forcibly overturn the established orders in those countries.
With ISCI and its armed wing, Badr (previously known as the Badr Brigades), perceived by Iraqis as having treasonously fought on the wrong side during the 1980s war (they were notoriously used by Tehran to torture and interrogate prisoners of war), ISCI was understandably regarded with suspicion when they returned to Iraq in 2003.
Iran spent a small fortune re-establishing ISCI on Iraqi soil. Badr capitalized on its dominance of the Interior Ministry for a wholesale takeover of the security forces. Along with the Islamic Dawa Party (led by former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki from 2006), and Moqtada Al-Sadr’s movement, these Shiite factions and their allies could secure around 50 percent of Parliament seats when Tehran coaxed them to act together.


The implosion is actually Ammar al-Hakim leaving to form National Wisdom.  IFP explains:

All Iraqi factions need to have a relationship with Iran. That is why Ammar Hakim has, in his speeches, thanked Iran for its support and assistance.
So, the new council that he has formed cannot be at odds with Iran; rather, it must be seeking a new atmosphere to secure a better social status. One of the new developments is the establishment of the new so-called “National Wisdom” current [created by Ammar Hakim] with national features which go beyond ethnic and religious lines. This has been one of the principles that new Iraqi parties and Iraqi people have favoured. Therefore, the National Wisdom current may be able to have a trans-religious and trans-ethnic performance. Moreover, some high-profile figures with long executive experience are still members of the ISCI. As already announced, they may be able to play a more constructive role in this arena by presenting their new programs and setting aside dynastic limitations.



That's a pretty important development.

Maybe at some point western news outlets will take the time to notice?





Major openness to in last 6 weeks. Hosted: • PM Abadi in June • Ariji in mid July • Muqtada Sadr today






MIDDLE EAST EYE notes:



In April, Sadr told Middle East Eye that "sectarian" PMUs have no place in Iraq.
Speaking from his home in Najaf, he told MEE that he favoured urgent dialogue with Iraq's Sunni politicians so as to prevent clashes sectarian clashes once the country no longer has a common enemy in IS.
"I'm afraid that the defeat of . . . [Islamic State] is only the start of a new phase. My proposal is inspired by fear of sectarian and ethnic conflict after Mosul's liberation," he said.
"I want to avoid this. I am very proud of Iraq's diversity but my fear is that we may see a genocide of some ethnic or sectarian groups."
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iraq were severed after Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and were only re-established in 2015.
Last month, Iraq's prime minister Haider al-Abadi met King Salman in Saudi Arabia in a bid to strengthen ties between the two countries. 




A curfew has been enforced on Al-Halabsa neighborhood north , no details known yet.





















iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq Iraq






Tuesday, August 01, 2017

Iraq snapshot

Tuesday, August 1, 2017.


How "Democrats" react when you reveal that Bush FBI appointee & Iraq war huckster Mueller met with the FSB in Moscow



I'm confused about the above.

Not about Keith per se.

He was trash and his verbal attacks on women well known before the faux left embraced him during the Bully Boy Bush years.

We never embraced him here or cited him as anyone to listen to.

But what confuses me about the above is that GQ has brought Keith back.

In a way it makes sense.

Professional bachelor Keith is their audience.

Or was.

For decades, closeted gay men would buy GQ and pretend like it was for something other than the men inside.  Or, as GQ grew ever more desperate, on the cover?  What was the point, GQ, of your infamous Tim Tebow armpit close up?  The cover led to a few more issues sold but only a few.  Maybe if they had made it scratch and sniff . . .

GQ and Keith would seem to be made for one another . . . if it were 1989.

But it's 2017 and the publishing industry still remains in ruins and, more to the point, the Barry Keep It In The Closet Dillers are a thing of the past.

Are there really enough closeted gay men around today to keep GQ afloat?

Keith better hope so because he's burned every bridge he's had -- MSNBC, ESPN, Al Gore's now defunct channel.

Keith, for those who don't know, didn't speak out against the Iraq War in the lead up to the war.

If he had, MSNBC would never have hired him.

Remember, they got rid of Phil Donahue because Donahue was not perceived as sufficiently pro-war.

Keith's a blow hard.

And now he's insulting Julian Assange.

In the world of Made A Difference, Julian stands several feet over tiny Keith.  WIKILEAKS has made a difference.

Keith?

Well he's had a lot of showy fits.  He's sort of the Neely O'Hara of the chat and chew set -- the Neely to Midge Dector's Helen Lawson.


He had all those years of prime time on a show that was supposed to be about Iraq -- it was about Iraq when Lester Holt hosted it -- and he accomplished nothing.  He didn't lead on burnpits, he didn't lead on war resistance, what did he do?

Oh, that's right, epic rants about Bully Boy Bush.  He did one major put down after another to show how much more intelligent he was than Bully Boy Bush.  Apparently, finding someone dumber than himself was such a rare discovery that he couldn't shut up about it.

All those hours to fill and yet when did he speak with  Camilo Mejia, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Joshua Key, Augstin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder , Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake or Kevin Benderman?


Our 'great' 'lefty' and he did nothing.

He still does nothing.

On a related topic . . .

The fighting is far from over in Mosul, the last ISIS stronghold in Iraq



Yes, observers of Iraq are aware of this.

The question is, why did THE NEW YORK TIMES report it as over weeks ago and now come out with this?

It could have made a difference a few weeks back.

I mean it could have made a difference in how we see the conflict (ongoing, not finished) but, equally true, it also could have made a difference in how we see that paper.


UPI has a piece by Wa'el Alzayat which opens:


After the defeat of the Islamic State in Mosul and likely collapse in Raqqa, the looming question in both countries is what will happen in areas liberated by U.S.-backed forces.
This question is critical for the United States, given the leading role it assumed when it formed the 60-plus country Counter-ISIS Coalition following the fall of Mosul in 2014. Since entering office, U.S. Presi­dent Donald Trump has pursued a strikingly similar approach to his predecessor's by narrowly focusing on dislodging IS while minimizing the U.S. military commitment.

As the so-called caliphate comes to an end, Trump's policy choices will affect the fate of liberated areas and perhaps the entire region. Just as the decision to disband the Iraqi Army and other missteps following the invasion of Iraq haunted post-war efforts, so will the decisions on how to govern and stabilize key Sunni areas in Iraq and Syria.


The world is full of Michael Walzers sadly.

We destroyed it, so we have to stay to fix it?  That b.s. was rejected here with "SHOULD THIS MARRIAGE BE SAVED?" -- thirteen years later, we're having to address it again?


The US cannot save Iraq.

Yes, it managed to destroy Iraq.

But it's efforts since haven't been about saving.

You don't -- as Barack Obama did -- give Nouri a second term after the voters reject him and then pretend you're helping Iraq.


You may be helping yourself but don't pretend you're helping Iraq.

(Barack's move helped so well it resulted in the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq.)

Note these words:

I don’t think that unless a greater effort is made by the government to win popular support that the war can be won out there. In the final analysis, it is their war. They are the ones who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send our men out there as advisors, but they have to win it, the people of Vietnam, against the communists.

Then-President John F. Kennedy speaking of Vietnam in September of 1963.

Apply it to Iraq.

Grasp the Michael Walzers would have the US stay forever.

Let's note this:

If you promote Kurds' Misinformation Campaign against Iraq, u r their friend. If u keep quiet, you are not their enemy. otherwise, u r evil.


I'm sorry.

That man is still with Brookings why?

Check the archives -- we've called him out, we've warned against him.

But Brookings and others have stayed with him.

That is not the Tweet of someone a think tank needs to have on their staff.


The Iraq war has made Tony Blair a rich man . He has made a killing .







"You could make a killing," Aimee Mann sang -- and War Criminal Tony Blair certainly did.


The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley -- updated:














  • ADDED: I'm trying to include the WSWS links daily:


    Today the WSWS published "Google's chief search engineer legitimizes new censorship algorithm." It analyzes the April 25 blog post from Ben Gomes, Google’s VP for engineering, who rolled out the new censorship program. Please read the article and share it widely on social media.

    The other articles published on the WSWS so far on Google's new search methods are:



    I do agree WSWS is under attack.





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