Friday, April 11, 2014

Saleh al-Mutlaq survives assassination attempt

World Bulletin reports, "Iraqi Deputy Premier Saleh al-Mutlaq and lawmaker Talal al-Zawbai survived an attempt on their lives in western Baghdad on Friday."  DPA notes the attack took place in Abu Ghraib.  al-Mutlaq is running for re-election.  Parliamentary elections are supposed to take place April 30th.  al-Mutlaq is a Sunni and, until 2013, was considered part of Iraqiya (the coalition that won the 2010 parliamentary elections besting Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition).  AFP reports:
While an interior ministry official said only that gunmen attacked the convoy, Mutlak's assistant specifically blamed the army.
"We were the target of an assassination attempt by the army who opened fire on us, and the bodyguards responded in the same way," the assistant said, without elaborating.
There is widespread anger among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority, which complains of being marginalized and mistreated by the Shiite-led government and security forces.


Saad Abedine (CNN) reports, "One of al-Mutlaq's bodyguards died in the attack, and five others were injured."  Abedine identifies al-Mutlaq and al-Zobaie as members of Iraqiya.  Iraqiya is not a coalition in the 2014 elections.  I have no idea of al-Zaobaie's status but al-Mutlaq was disowned by Iraqiya.  This has been covered extensively in the Iraqi press and Ayad Allawi also made this clear in a lengthy interview he did with the BBC last summer.  AP notes, "A group of armed men in army uniforms and driving military vehicles opened fire at their convoy, triggering a shootout with guards and soldiers protecting al—Mutlaq, said al—Zobaie. "

In other election news, Alsumaria reports a candidate has been arrested for attempting to buy electronic voting cards.  They offer this report on why some citizens might sell the cards (poverty).  All Iraq News reports,  "The Kurdistani Alliance announced its rejection to the nomination of the Premier, Nouri al-Maliki, for a third term of the Prime Minister's post."



National Iraqi News Agency reports a Ghatoon-Razi roadside bombing left 1 man and a child dead (with three more people injured), 2 rebels were killed in a battle near Aladheim, a Halawah Village bombing left 1 person dead and nine more injured, and Joint Special Operations Command announced they killed 44 suspects in Anbar.  All Iraq News notes that 1 woman (a teacher) was shot dead in Mosul.   Alsumaria adds the corpse of a police member was discovered outside of Kirkuk, hours after he was kidnapped and that two people in Ramadi were injured by a rocket attack.


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    •  The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.






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    Nouri the child killer (and the US government asks Google for a favor)

    Nouri al-Maliki's ongoing assault on the civilians in Falluja continues and he got three 'kills' today.  How proud the thug must be.  Alsumaria reports three children were wounded in the bombing of the residential areas of Falluja and 3 more children were killed.

    US President Barack Obaam's support for Nouri continues.

    In spite of the killing?

    Hell, maybe because.

    The US government exists today for little more than the perverse amusement of those chosen to serve in it.

    There are no high ideals behind anything they do.  It's greed and the hunger for power.

    Which is how Secretary of State John Kerry bragged -- "bragged" is the term -- of how the State Dept was doing more to help the business interests.

    You can whine  all you want about a Supreme Court decision granting personhood to corporations but it's just empty bitchy from you if you're not going to call out the US government redefining its role from serving the citizens to serving corporations.  There was no 'ruling' needed for that, just a craven administration that too many idiots embraced as "change" without realizing what they were actually getting.

    The US government dicks around other countries and wastes taxpayer money incessently.

    While people in the US spend months and years in the still ongoing Great Recession (which whores like Paul Krugman turn a blind eye to today), the US government works overtime trying to figure out how to waste the taxpayer money -- and how to do so while working petty grudges.

    What has the US government defined as the biggest 'threat' currently?

    Iran?

    Nope.

    Russia?

    Nope.

    I'm not saying either should be the biggest threat or even a threat.

    I am saying they do love to pretend in front of the cameras and in front of Congressional committees.

    But the biggest threat, as they've defined it, is China.

    And there are whole groups in the non-NSA, non-CIA field of administration workers who spend forever and day wasting time on schemes to 'trump' China.

    Four-and-a-half-weeks is the estimated time spent on one 'grand scheme' that would really 'screw over' China.

    What's scheme that?

    Google has a news page.  The administration has control of it with just a tiny little whisper.

    Here's how it starts in the administration.

    So what if, one administration (low ranking) official offers (not on a stoned high but sounding like it), we get Google to stop offering China's state run news agency Xinhua?

    Great idea!  Get me a write up!

    After the write up, three more people are read in on it.

    One offers concerns.

    Concerns  Like maybe in a free society the government doesn't attempt to censor?

    No, concerns like, as detailed, it would be too obvious.

    So another week is spent devising how to do it but not be obvious about it.

    Week three finds the plan being polished by those read in as they gear up for presentation.

    They come up with this idea.  When topics are searched in Google News, Xinhua won't come up.  And when topics are listed in Google News -- on the front page or the expanded listing -- Xinhua won't come up.  But if you search "xinhua," it will show a few results.

    So it won't be obvious and won't garner any attention.

    This plan -- and I'm not making this crap up -- then went through channels, got approval and the call was made to Google which agreed it would be "fun" (that is the term applied "fun").

    Xinhua is a Chinese news agency -- a news agency in the most populated country in the world.

    It's not going to suffer from lack of 'hits' from this action.

    Since it's state-owned and operated, the plan also won't result in any financial impact on it.

    But this b.s. plan is what many members of the government -- on the taxpayer dime -- spent four-and-a-half-weeks working on.

    This is how they waste your money, this is how they 'focus.'

    These little, at best, pranks.

    Concerns about the Constitution, concerns about employment and the economy all fall by the wayside in a craven and corrupt administration that sees their role as something other than serving the American people.

    A government that disconnected gladly embraces a child killer like Nouri al-Maliki.




     The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.



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    SEATTLE: MONDAY: Murray to Join Wounded Veterans, Caregivers to Discuss New Bill to Help Caregivers

    Senator Patty Murray


    Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee and serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  Her office issued the following yesterday:



    FOR PLANNING PURPOSES                                 CONTACT: Murray Press Office
    Thursday, April 10th, 2014                                                              (202) 224-2834



     
    SEATTLE: MONDAY: Murray to Join Wounded Veterans, Caregivers to Discuss New Bill to Help Caregivers
     
    Murray, wounded veterans, and their caregivers to discuss bill to help caregivers of wounded, ill, and injured military servicemembers and veterans

    Bill provides health care, counseling, and a living stipend to caregivers who give up their careers to care for injured veterans
     


    (Washington, D.C.) – Monday, April 14th, 2014, U.S. Senator Patty Murray will join wounded veterans and their caregivers at the Wounded Warriors Project in Seattle to talk about how to better support those who provide care to severely injured veterans.  This month, RAND released the results from the largest-ever study of military caregivers.  The results show where care and benefits have fallen short, where new needs are emerging, and how we can make it easier for veterans to get the care and benefits they deserve.  Senator Murray has introduced the Military and Veteran Caregiver Services Improvement Act to help address these critical issues.  Murray has led congressional efforts to establish the VA caregivers program to provide family members with health care, counseling, training, respite and a living stipend.  



     
    WHO:             U.S. Senator Patty Murray
    Mike Kiser, Senior Benefits Liaison at Wounded Warrior Project Seattle
                            Local caregivers and wounded veterans
     
    WHAT:          Murray will meet with local wounded veterans and their caregivers to discuss critical issues with caregiver support and ways it must be improved, discuss new legislation to address these
                            problems
     
    WHEN:          Monday, April 14th, 2014
                            1:30 PM PST
     
    WHERE:       Seattle Wounded Warrior Project
    2223 Alaskan Way, Suite 220
    Seattle, WA 98121
    MAP

    ###

     
    Kathryn Robertson
    Deputy Press Secretary 
    Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
    154 Russell Senate Office Building
    Washington D.C. 20510
    202-224-2834







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