Saturday, December 25, 2010

The buried realities

More than nine and a half months after Iraqis went to the polls in a credible parliamentary election, Nouri Al Maliki secured confirmation of an “inclusive” government comprised of Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. However, during the over-long period of gestation, the process of forming the government lost credibility.
Furthermore, the government itself has little credibility because it is comprised of faction figures nominated just 24 hours before Maliki announced his line-up rather than competent technocrats who could solve Iraq’s many urgent problems. Maliki’s cabinet has 42 ministries but he could make firm appointments to only 29 posts because of factional bickering.
Ten portfolios are temporary while Maliki retains the sensitive ministries of defence, interior and national security until agreement can be made on permanent candidates for these ministries. This means the jockeying for position and power continues while Iraqis suffer from insecurity, unemployment, lack of electricity, and inadequate services.


The above is from the Irish Times' Michael Jansen's "Questions over credibility" (Gulf Today). Jansen's long covered Iraq and offers the best assessment thus far. Global Post adds, "Meantime, seven years after the U.S.-led invasion, the deplorable state of public services, especially electricity, remains a top concern. Severe power rationing remains routine and sparked deadly protests during the summer as temperatures soared above 120 degrees across central and southern Iraq." AKnews reports one effort to address the lack of improvements: The Parliament has a (binding? non-binding?) new set of rules wherein MPs who do not attend sessions will not be paid the US equivalent of $400.


Binding or non-binding, it's a joke. Last month, Barbara Surk (AP) reported that the MPs received $90,000 per diem and $22,500 per month. If an MP missed every session and there was at least one session a week? They'd be out $20,000. Less than one month's pay. Some 'action.'

Meanwhile Judith at Papillon Web examines recent press coverage and offers, "This same week the Iraqi government finally claimed to form a government. First The New York Times gives us 'Cleric's Anti-U.S. Forces Poised for Gains in Iraq'. They point out that al-Sadr's militia has gone straight and joined politics. Even so, they adamantly oppose the U.S. Forces in Iraq. The Times is concerned that the al-Sadr faction of the government might be strong enough to sway Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The next day The New York Times tells us that, due to the fragmentation of the Iraqi parliament, al-Maliki is unlikely to be overruled. Better yet, The Washington Post has 'Maliki's governing style raises questions about future of Iraq's fragile democracy'. They say pranksters put up posters in Baghdad of Mr. Al-Maliki that resemble the ones of Saddam Hussein prior to the American occupation. So is it just a disgruntled opposition or are we about to complete the circle in Iraq?"

Aaron Glantz covers Bradly Manning in Sunday's New York Times. Background on
Bradley Manning. Monday April 5th, WikiLeaks released US military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two Reuters journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. Monday June 7th, the US military announced that they had arrested Bradley Manning and he stood accused of being the leaker of the video. Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reported in August that Manning had been charged -- "two charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The first encompasses four counts of violating Army regulations by transferring classified information to his personal computer between November and May and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system. The second comprises eight counts of violating federal laws governing the handling of classified information." Manning has been convicted in the public square despite the fact that he's been convicted in no state and has made no public statements -- despite any claims otherwise, he has made no public statements. Manning is now at Quantico in Virginia, under military lock and key and still not allowed to speak to the press. Paul Courson (CNN) notes Bradley is a suspect and, "He has not admitted guilt in either incident, his supporters say." Daniel Ellsberg needs to figure out what the deal is before he opens his mouth next. I not in the damn mood. In the Glantz article, Ellsberg is again putting forward the notion that Bradley is guilty. Daniel knows no such thing and needs to shut the hell up. Is Daniel working for the government now? He's certainly not working for Bradley's family. Bradley's family has not gone to the press. So who the hell is Daniel Ellsberg to convict Bradley in the court of public opinion. He's been acting crazy for some weeks now and maybe he's exhausted at his age or maybe he's like a dog being flashed a ball and can't figure out who's side he's on? Is he on Julian Assange's side? Making ridiculous comments that we are all Julian Assange? Uh, no, we're not. And as even Greg Palast has noted, Julian Assange is a glory hog who's taken bows for things he doesn't deserve to take bows for, he's shown no bravery at all.

Glantz' article normally wouldn't be linked to because we're not in the mood for liars -- that now includes Daniel Ellsberg -- who advance that (a) Bradley's guilty and that (b) a snitch -- professional snitch, well paid by the government and apparently no one wants to troll through those bank record -- who alters the alleged online conversation he allegedly had with Bradley is someone you bank trust in. Oh, no, not unless you're a government prosecutor do you do that.

I like Daniel but he needs to get his act together and his hurt feelings aren't my concern. Bradley's my concern. Bradley's either guilty or innocent. He's supposed to have the presumption of innocence under the US legal system but 'supporters' like Daniel Ellsberg refuse to give him that.

Glantz article is at its strongest in this section:

The lack of clarity surrounding Private Manning's involvement has made building public support a challenge, even in friendly forums like the Berkeley City Council, which last week declined to back a measure calling Private Manning a hero.
Robert Meola, an activist who drafted the resolution as chairman of Berkeley's Peace and Justice Commission, said he would fight for Private Manning.
"If he didn't do it, then he’s in pretrial confinement in isolation for several months, and he should be freed," Mr. Meola said.

I'm not sure how to judge the opening. It strikes me as rather weak but possibly that's how you tiptoe into an issue. Glantz tiptoes in with the fact that WikiLeaks is not financially supporting Bradley. He leaves out the fact that Julian Assange has spent months stating that WikiLeaks was financially supporting Bradley's defense, that Assange grandstanded over that and looked saintly because of it, that Assange would insist that even though they (WikiLeaks) have no idea who leaked the information to them, they would support Bradley.

That little act?

It went a long way towards making Julian Assange appear brave, fair and kind. Turns out it was all theatrics. Never once did WikiLeaks give a dime to Bradley's defense.

That's been noted by a few websites (including this one) this month but not by enough -- especially when you consider that news outlets repeatedly promoted the Assange's claim that WikiLeaks was financially supporting Bradley's defense.


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




















The continued suffering of Iraqi Christians

Raheem Salman (Los Angeles Times) reports on Iraqi Christians, "[Rimon] Metti said Friday that he would attend only the service on Christmas morning and avoid the Christmas Eve Mass. His goal is simple: survival. Priests and Christian politicians are calling for this Christmas to be one of mourning for the faithful killed in October." October 31st, Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad was assaulted -- at least 70 people were wounded and approximately 70 people were killed. It started off the latest wave of attacks targeting Iraqi Christians. The response to the latest wave has been Iraqi Christians seeking sanctuary in the KRG or outside of Iraq. UPI notes, "The number of people attending Christian services in Iraq has dropped sharply since a suicide attack on a church in October, religious leaders say." Namo Abdulla (Reuters) observes, "The threat of fresh violence has led Iraqi security forces to erect high blast walls topped with barbed wire around several churches in Baghdad. Holiday decorations were noticeably absent." Catherine Jouault (AFP) reports:

In his midnight mass at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal, the Middle East's senior Catholic bishop, offered a message of solidarity to Iraqi Christians.
In Iraq itself, several hundred attended a Christmas Day service at Baghdad's cathedral, surrounded by tight security, while a smaller number went to midnight mass at the city's Saint Joseph church.
"Do not fear - that is the message today," Father Saad Sirop Hanna, the head priest at the Chaldean Catholic church, told his congregation.

Meanwhile the governmental responses? Ekklesia notes, "The European Parliament has officially welcomed a delegation of Christian leaders from Iraq and Lebanon at its last plenary session of the year. The move comes at a time when concern is high for the welfare of under-pressure Christians and other minorities in Iraq and other countries throughout the Middle East." The governments of France, Germany and Italy have offered sanctuary to those at the Church October 31st who survived (and France also offered medical treatment). Leaders around the world -- of all faiths -- expressed concern and outrage over the targeting. As it became obvious that US President Barack Obama was not going to address the issue a friend of Samantha Power's penned a laughable column that appeared at numerous sites online -- and continues to -- trashing Hillary Clinton. Hillary's spoken out, she did so last month becoming the highest ranking US government official to do so. At the UN this month, Vice President Joe Biden spoke out. Barack Obama's the one who still can't speak out. From Bridget Johnson's "Bipartisan effort pressures Obama to help Iraq's Christians" (The Hill):

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), the only Assyrian member of Congress and a close friend of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), remembers well listening to her grandparents’ stories of family members being slain or fleeing the region, as they did when they came to the United States.
"History is repeating itself," the congresswoman somberly told The Hill.
Eshoo and the co-chairman of the Religious Minorities in Iraq Caucus, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), have been trying to bring awareness to the plight of Christians in Iraq since the invasion of that country by coalition forces upended the sectarian dynamic, provided fertile ground for extremist groups such as al-Qaeda to take root and put religious minorities under new pressure.


The following community sites -- plus Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan -- updated last night and today:



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thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends
















Friday, December 24, 2010

Iraq snapshot

Friday, December 24, 2010.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri's incomplete Cabinet continues to receive criticism, a father offers an 'excuse' for killing his own daughter, and more.
 
Marci Stone (US Headlines Examiner) reports, "Friday afternoon, Santa is currently in Baghdad, Iraq and on his next stop is Moscow, Russia, according to the 2010 NORAD Santa Tracker. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has been tracking Santa as he makes his annual journey throughout the world."  Gerald Skoning (Palm Beach Post) quotes Santa saying, "We send our special wishes for peace and goodwill to all.  That includes the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea."  Please note that this is Santa's seventh trip to Iraq since the start of the Iraq War and, as usual, his journey was known in advance.  No waiting until he hit the ground to announce he was going to Iraq -- the way George The Bully Boy Bush had to and the way US President Barack Obama still has to. In the lead up to Santa's yearly visit, many 'authorities' in Iraq began insisting that Christmas couldn't be celebrated publicly, that even Santa was banned. 
 

Gabriel Gatehouse (BBC News) quotes
Shemmi Hanna stating, "I wasn't hurt but I wish that I had been killed. I wish I had become a martyr for this church, but God kept me alive for my daughters." Shemmi Hanna was in Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad when it was assaulted October 31st and she lost her husband, her son, her daughter-in-law and her infant grandson in the attack. The October 31st attack marks the latest wave of violence targeting Iraqi Christians. The violence has led many to flee to northern Iraq (KRG) or to other countries. Zvi Bar'el (Haaretz) notes, "This week the Iraqi legislature discussed the Christians' situation and passed a resolution in principle to help families who fled. However, the parliament does not know where the Christians are, how many are still in Iraq, in their homes, and how many have found asylum in Iraqi Kurdistan." John Leland (New York Times) reports:

The congregants on Friday night were fewer than 100, in a sanctuary built for four or five times as many. But they were determined. This year, even more than in the past, Iraqi's dwindling Christian minority had reasons to stay home for Christmas.
"Yes, we are threatened, but we will not stop praying," the Rev. Meyassr al-Qaspotros told the Christmas Eve crowd at the Sacred Church of Jesus, a Chaldean Catholic church. "We do not want to leave the country because we will leave an empty space."

Raheem Salman (Los Angeles Times) reports, "Rimon Metti's family will go to Christian services on Christmas Day, but his relatives will be praying for their own survival and wondering whether this is their last holiday season in Baghdad. If they had any grounds for optimism about the future of their faith in Iraq, it vanished this year amid repeated attacks on fellow believers."  Shahsank Bengali (McClatchy Newspapers) adds, "Nearly two months after a shocking assault by Islamist militants, Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church will commemorate Christmas quietly, with daytime mass and prayers for the dead, under security fit more for a prison than a house of worship. It is the same at Christian churches across Baghdad and northern Iraq, where what's left of one of the world's oldest Christian communities prepares to mark perhaps the most somber Christmas since the start of the Iraq war."
 
 
Meanwhile Taylor Luck (Jordan Times) reports on Iraqi refugees in Jordan:

Although the calendar will say December 25, for Theresa, Saturday will not be Christmas.
There will be no cinnamon klecha cooling on the dining room table, no outdoor ceramic nativity scene, no readings of hymns with relatives.
The 63-year-old Iraqi woman has even refused to put up Christmas lights in the crowded two-room Amman hotel apartment she has called home since fleeing Baghdad last month.
"There is no holiday spirit. All we have is fear," she said.
This holiday will instead mark another year without news from her 46-year-old son, who was kidnapped outside Baghdad in late 2006.

 
From Turkey, Sebnem Arsu (New York Times -- link has text and video) notes the increase in Iraq refugees to the country since October 31st and quotes Father Emlek stating, "I've never seen as many people coming here as I have in the last few weeks. They also go to Lebanon, Jordan and Syria but it seems that Turkey is the most popular despite the fact that they do not speak the language."  Jeff Karoub (AP) reports on the small number of Iraqi refugees who have made it to the US and how some of them "struggle with insomnia, depression and anxiety."
 
 
One group in Iraq who can openly celebrate Christmas are US service members who elect to.  Barbara Surk (AP) reports that tomorrow Chief Warrant Officer Archie Morgan will celebrate his fourth Christmas in Iraq and Captain Diana Crane is celebrating her second Christmas in Iraq: "Crane was among several dozen troops attending a Christmas Eve mass in a chapel in Camp Victory, an American military base just outside Baghdad."  Marc Hansen (Des Moines Reigster) speaks with six service members from Iowa who are stationed in Iraq.  Sgt 1st Class Dennis Crosser tells Hansen, "I certainly understand from reading the paper what's going on in Afghanistan and the attention definitely needs to be on the troops there.  But everyone serving here in Operation New Dawn appreciates a little bit of attention as we finish this up."
 
 
Today Jiang Yu, China's Foreign Minister, issued the following statement, "We welcome and congratulate Iraq on forming a new government. We hope that the Iraqi Government unite all its people, stabilize the security situation, accelerate economic reconstruction and make new progress in building its country."   James Cogan (WSWS) reports:
 
US State Department official Philip Crowley declared on Wednesday that Washington had not "dictated the terms of the government". In reality, constant American pressure was applied to Maliki, Allawi, Kurdish leaders and other prominent Iraqi politicians throughout the entire nine-month process to form a cabinet. The US intervention included numerous personal phone calls and visits to Baghdad by both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
The key objective of the Obama administration has been to ensure that the next Iraqi government will "request" a long-term military partnership with the US when the current Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) expires at the end of 2011. The SOFA is the legal basis upon which some 50,000 American troops remain in Iraq, operating from large strategic air bases such as Balad and Tallil and Al Asad. US imperialism spent billions of dollars establishing these advanced bases as part of its wider strategic plans and has no intention of abandoning them.
 
Cogan's only the second person to include the SOFA in his report. Some are impressed with the 'feat' of taking nearly ten months to form a government, stringing the country along for ten months while no decisions could go through. The editorial board of the Washington Post, for example, was full of praise yesterday. Today they're joined by Iran's Ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Danaiifar. The Tehran Times reports that Danaiifar was full of praise today hailing the "positive and final step which ended the 10-month political limbo in Iraq." However, Danaiifar was less pie-in-the-sky than the Post editorial board because he can foresee future problems as evidenced by his statement, "We may witness the emergence of some problems after one and half of a year -- for example, some ministers may be impeached." Of course, there are already many clouds on the horizon, even if Iranian diplomats and Post editorial boards can't suss them out. For example, Ben Bendig (Epoch Times) noted the objection of Iraq's female politicians to Nouri al-Maliki's decision to nominate only one woman (so far) to his Cabinet: "Some 50 female lawmakers went to the country's top leadership, the United Nations and the Arab League to voice their concern and desire for increased representation."  BNO notes that protest and also that a group of Iraqi MPs are alleging that Iraqiya bought seats in the Cabinet via money exchanged in Jordan.  UPI adds, "Maliki, a Shiite who has a long history of working with Tehran, has named himself acting minister of defense, interior and national security, three most powerful and sensitive posts in the government he is stitching together. Although Maliki appears to be bending over backward to accommodate rivals among Iraq's Shiite majority as well as minority Sunnis and Kurds in his administration in a spirit of reconciliation, he is unlikely to relinquish those ministries that dominate the security sector."  DPA reports, "Sheikh Abdel-Mahdi al-Karbalaei, a confident of influential Shiite spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said that the new cabinet is 'below the standards' Iraqi citizens had hoped for and suggested it could prove to be weaker than the previous government."   Ranj Alaaldin (Guardian) also spots clouds on the horizon:

Lasting peace and stability depends on resolving outstanding disputes with the Kurds on oil, revenue-sharing, security and the disputed territories (Kirkuk in particular). The Kurds, rather than exploiting their kingmaker position to take a stronger proportion of ministries in Baghdad (they are taking just one major portfolio – the foreign ministry), are instead banking on guarantees from Maliki to implement their list of 19 demands that includes resolving the above disputes in their favour.
They may have been naive, though. With their historical and federalist partners, the Islamic supreme council of Iraq in decline, the Kurds may be isolated in the new government – a government dominated by the nationalistic and centrist characteristics of the INM, the Sadrists and indeed State of Law.
Maliki may, therefore, turn out to be unable to grant concessions even if he wanted to and could use Osama Nujayfi, the new ultra-nationalist speaker of parliament and Kurdish foe, to absorb the Kurdish criticism and insulate himself from any attacks.

AP reports that Iraqi police sought out a 19-year-old woman because of rumors that she was working with al Qaida in Mesopotamia only to be greeted with the news that her father allegedly killed her and the father showed the police where he buried the woman . . . last month. The story begs for more than it offers. The most obvious observation is: what does it say that a woman's allegedly killed by her father and no one says a word for over a month? After that, it should probably be noted that there are many men in Iraq killing women who, no doubt, would love to also be able to pin the blame on al Qaida. In other violence, Reuters notes a house bombing in Haswa which claimed the life of Mohammed al-Karrafi, "his wife, two sons and a nephew" -- as well as injuring four more people, and a Samarra roadside bombing which claimed the lives of 2 police officers. DPA notes it was two homes bombed in Haswa and that the Samarra roadside bombing also injured four Iraqi soldiers.  Jomana Karadsheh (CNN) reports, "Another policeman was wounded in Baghdad Friday night when a roadside bomb detonated by a police patrol, an Interior Ministry official told CNN."
And we'll close with this from Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan's latest Al Jazeera column:
 
 
The recent repeal of the US military policy of "Don't ask, don't tell" is far from being the human rights advancement some are touting it to be. I find it intellectually dishonest, in fact, illogical on any level to associate human rights with any military, let alone one that is currently dehumanising two populations as well as numerous other victims of it's clandestine "security" policies.
Placing this major contention aside, the enactment of the bill might be an institutional step forward in the fight for "equality"; however institutions rarely reflect reality.
Do we really think that the US congress vote to repeal the act and Obama signing the bill is going to stop the current systemic harassment of gays in the military?
While I am a staunch advocate for equality of marriage and same-sex partnership, I cannot - as a peace activist - rejoice in the fact that now homosexuals can openly serve next to heterosexuals in one of the least socially responsible organisations that currently exists on earth: The US military.
It is an organisation tainted with a history of intolerance towards anyone who isn't a Caucasian male from the Mid-West. Even then I'm sure plenty fitting that description have faced the terror and torment enshrined into an institution that transforms the pride and enthusiasm of youth into a narrow zeal for dominating power relations.

 
 And we'll close with this from Francis A. Boyle's "2011: Prospects for Humanity?" (Global Research):
 
 

Historically, this latest eruption of American militarism at the start of the 21st Century is akin to that of America opening the 20th Century by means of the U.S.-instigated Spanish-American War in 1898.  Then the Republican administration of President  William McKinley stole their colonial empire from Spain in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines; inflicted a near genocidal war against the Filipino people; while at the same time illegally annexing the Kingdom of Hawaii and subjecting the Native Hawaiian people (who call themselves the Kanaka Maoli) to near genocidal conditions.  Additionally, McKinley's military and colonial expansion into the Pacific was also designed to secure America's economic exploitation of China pursuant to the euphemistic rubric of the "open door" policy.   But over the next four decades America's aggressive presence, policies, and practices in the "Pacific" would ineluctably pave the way for Japan's attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 194l, and thus America's precipitation into the ongoing Second World War.    Today a century later the serial imperial aggressions launched and menaced by the Republican Bush Jr. administration and now the Democratic Obama administration  are  threatening to set off World War III.   

By shamelessly exploiting the terrible tragedy of 11 September 2001, the Bush Jr. administration set forth to steal a hydrocarbon empire from the Muslim states and peoples living in Central Asia and the Persian Gulf under the bogus pretexts of (1) fighting a war against international terrorism; and/or (2) eliminating weapons of mass destruction; and/or (3) the promotion of democracy; and/or (4) self-styled "humanitarian intervention."  Only this time the geopolitical stakes are infinitely greater than they were a century ago:  control and domination of two-thirds of the world's hydrocarbon resources and thus the very fundament and energizer of the global economic system – oil and gas.  The Bush Jr./ Obama  administrations  have  already targeted the remaining hydrocarbon reserves of Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia for further conquest or domination, together with the strategic choke-points at sea and on land required for their transportation.  In this regard, the Bush Jr. administration  announced the establishment of the U.S. Pentagon's Africa Command (AFRICOM) in order to better control, dominate, and exploit both the natural resources and the variegated peoples of the continent of Africa, the very cradle of our human species.           

This current bout of U.S. imperialism is what Hans Morgenthau denominated "unlimited imperialism" in his seminal work Politics Among Nations (4th ed. 1968, at 52-53):  

The outstanding historic examples of unlimited imperialism are the expansionist policies of Alexander the Great, Rome, the Arabs in the seventh and eighth centuries, Napoleon I, and Hitler. They all have in common an urge toward expansion which knows no rational limits, feeds on its own successes and, if not stopped by a superior force, will go on to the confines of the political world. This urge will not be satisfied so long as there remains anywhere a possible object of domination--a politically organized group of men which by its very independence challenges the conqueror's lust for power. It is, as we shall see, exactly the lack of moderation, the aspiration to conquer all that lends itself to conquest, characteristic of unlimited imperialism, which in the past has been the undoing of the imperialistic policies of this kind….  

On 10 November 1979 I visited with Hans Morgenthau at his home in Manhattan. It proved to be our last conversation before he died on 19 July 1980.  Given his weakened physical but not mental condition and his serious heart problem, at the end of our necessarily abbreviated one-hour meeting I purposefully asked him what he thought about the future of international relations.

 
 
 
cnn
jomana karadsheh

Clouds

US State Department official Philip Crowley declared on Wednesday that Washington had not "dictated the terms of the government". In reality, constant American pressure was applied to Maliki, Allawi, Kurdish leaders and other prominent Iraqi politicians throughout the entire nine-month process to form a cabinet. The US intervention included numerous personal phone calls and visits to Baghdad by both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
The key objective of the Obama administration has been to ensure that the next Iraqi government will "request" a long-term military partnership with the US when the current Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) expires at the end of 2011. The SOFA is the legal basis upon which some 50,000 American troops remain in Iraq, operating from large strategic air bases such as Balad and Tallil and Al Asad. US imperialism spent billions of dollars establishing these advanced bases as part of its wider strategic plans and has no intention of abandoning them.

The above is from James Cogan's "Iraqi cabinet established nine months after election" (WSWS). Cogan's only the second person to include the SOFA in his report. Some are impressed with the 'feat' of taking nearly ten months to form a government, stringing the country along for ten months while no decisions could go through. The editorial board of the Washington Post, for example, was full of praise yesterday. Today they're joined by Iran's Ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Danaiifar. The Tehran Times reports that Danaiifar was full of praise today hailing the "positive and final step which ended the 10-month political limbo in Iraq." However, Danaiifar was less pie-in-the-sky than the Post editorial board because he can foresee future problems as evidenced by his statement, "We may witness the emergence of some problems after one and half of a year -- for example, some ministers may be impeached." Of course, there are already many clouds on the horizon, even if Iranian diplomats and Post editorial boards can't suss them out. For example, Ben Bendig (Epoch Times) noted the objection of Iraq's female politicians to Nouri al-Maliki's decision to nominate only one woman (so far) to his Cabinet: "Some 50 female lawmakers went to the country's top leadership, the United Nations and the Arab League to voice their concern and desire for increased representation." Ranj Alaaldin (Guardian) also spots clouds on the horizon:

Lasting peace and stability depends on resolving outstanding disputes with the Kurds on oil, revenue-sharing, security and the disputed territories (Kirkuk in particular). The Kurds, rather than exploiting their kingmaker position to take a stronger proportion of ministries in Baghdad (they are taking just one major portfolio – the foreign ministry), are instead banking on guarantees from Maliki to implement their list of 19 demands that includes resolving the above disputes in their favour.
They may have been naive, though. With their historical and federalist partners, the Islamic supreme council of Iraq in decline, the Kurds may be isolated in the new government – a government dominated by the nationalistic and centrist characteristics of the INM, the Sadrists and indeed State of Law.
Maliki may, therefore, turn out to be unable to grant concessions even if he wanted to and could use Osama Nujayfi, the new ultra-nationalist speaker of parliament and Kurdish foe, to absorb the Kurdish criticism and insulate himself from any attacks.

AP reports that Iraqi police sought out a 19-year-old woman because of rumors that she was working with al Qaida in Mesopotamia only to be greeted with the news that her father allegedly killed her and the father showed the police where he buried the woman . . . last month. The story begs for more than it offers. The most obvious observation is: what does it say that a woman's allegedly killed by her father and no one says a word for over a month? After that, it should probably be noted that there are many men in Iraq killing women who, no doubt, would love to also be able to pin the blame on al Qaida. In other violence, Reuters notes a house bombing in Haswa which claimed the life of Mohammed al-Karrafi, "his wife, two sons and a nephew" -- as well as injuring four more people, and a Samarra roadside bombing which claimed the lives of 2 police officers. DPA notes it was two homes bombed in Haswa and that the Samarra roadside bombing also injured four Iraqi soldiers.



army_mil-73865-2010-05-19-060544

(Troy Yocum photo taken by John Crosby)

Hike for our Heroes is a non-profit started by Iraq War veteran Troy Yocum who is hiking across the country to raise awareness and money for veterans issues. Embassy Suites issued the following release:

Embassy Suites El Paso welcomes Troy Yocum, his wife Mareike and their Super Dog Emmie for an extended stay to rest, relax and celebrate the holidays before they continue their hike across the country. Yocum will stay at the hotel through Dec. 27, when he again picks up his drum to raise money for the nation’s military heroes.

“We are extremely proud to offer Troy and Mareike a home for the holidays,” said Larry Condra, general manager of the hotel. “We even have a few surprises planned, from a traditional Texas Christmas dinner to special treats for Emmie. Troy’s mission touches us all and we are grateful for this opportunity to show our support for our military families.”

The Embassy Suites El Paso is managed by Windsor Management Services, the management company of Windsor Capital Group. The Windsor Management Services team has offered support to Hike for Heroes and this is the second property Yocum has stayed at. Previously, he spent a night at the Embassy Suites Santa Ana Orange County North Airport.

“We work closely with the military, providing places for deployed servicemen and servicewomen to stay before and after their deployment,” said Condra. “Troy’s mission hit us especially close to home since we see first-hand what these heroes face.”

When Yocum returned from Iraq in August 2009, a fellow veteran who served two tours – one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan – needed financial help after losing his job. Yocum contacted charities to get assistance for his friend, but the likelihood of receiving aid was very low. Thousands of veterans were already waiting in line for help. He also found that the suicide rate among soldiers had set a record number for two years in a row. “I immediately stepped back and said, ‘I need to find a way to help these people,’” he said. Yocum was determined to make his efforts successful and decided he was going to hike across America and back to raise awareness and donations to help these soldiers and their families.

Troy has now passed the halfway point of his Hike and has covered over 4,000 miles. His journey will continue for another nine months until he reaches his hometown of Louisville, KY, where the Hike began. He has raised over $100,000 and will continue to give donations to struggling military families along the way.
Donations can now be made at drumhike.com. Supporters can text SOLDIERS to 20222 to automatically donate $5.

ABOUT WINDSOR MANAGEMENT SERVICES

Windsor Management Services, a subsidiary of Windsor Capital Group, is an award winning, comprehensive hospitality management and development organization that manages full-service, upscale hotel properties throughout the United States. With more than 30 years of experience to call on, Windsor Management Services is known for unmatched results for its owners and unparalleled service for its guests delivered with a personal connection.

For more information visit windsormanagementservices.com or wcghotels.com. Additionally, please contact Bill Upshaw, President & Chief Operating Officer or Craig Stechman, Senior Vice President-Sales & Marketing at 310-566-1100.

Media contact
LeAnn Boucher
leann(at)greydogcreative(dot)com
404-932-8677

###



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But you don't have to be an angel to sing harmony

Children carry through the streets
A brightly painted star
Angels gather 'round the hearth
Strumming on guitars
Men of great renown and faith
Say prayers on boulevards
It's the night before Christmas
-- "The Night Before Christmas," written by Carly Simon, first appears on the soundtrack to This Is My Life


Gabriel Gatehouse (BBC News) quotes
Shemmi Hanna stating, "I wasn't hurt but I wish that I had been killed. I wish I had become a martyr for this church, but God kept me alive for my daughters." Shemmi Hanna was in Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad when it was assaulted October 31st and she lost her husband, her son, her daughter-in-law and her infant grandson in the attack. The October 31st attack marks the latest wave of violence targeting Iraqi Christians. The violence has led many to flee to northern Iraq (KRG) or to other countries. Zvi Bar'el (Haaretz) notes, "This week the Iraqi legislature discussed the Christians' situation and passed a resolution in principle to help families who fled. However, the parliament does not know where the Christians are, how many are still in Iraq, in their homes, and how many have found asylum in Iraqi Kurdistan." John Leland (New York Times) reports:

The congregants on Friday night were fewer than 100, in a sanctuary built for four or five times as many. But they were determined. This year, even more than in the past, Iraqi’s dwindling Christian minority had reasons to stay home for Christmas.
"Yes, we are threatened, but we will not stop praying," the Rev. Meyassr al-Qaspotros told the Christmas Eve crowd at the Sacred Church of Jesus, a Chaldean Catholic church. "We do not want to leave the country because we will leave an empty space."

Meanwhile Taylor Luck (Jordan Times) reports on Iraqi refugees in Jordan:

Although the calendar will say December 25, for Theresa, Saturday will not be Christmas.
There will be no cinnamon klecha cooling on the dining room table, no outdoor ceramic nativity scene, no readings of hymns with relatives.
The 63-year-old Iraqi woman has even refused to put up Christmas lights in the crowded two-room Amman hotel apartment she has called home since fleeing Baghdad last month.
"There is no holiday spirit. All we have is fear," she said.
This holiday will instead mark another year without news from her 46-year-old son, who was kidnapped outside Baghdad in late 2006.

Jeff Karoub (AP) reports on the small number of Iraqi refugees who have made it to the US and how some of them "struggle with insomnia, depression and anxiety."


The following community sites -- plus Military Families Speak Out -- updated last night:


We are on holiday schedule. This has been addressed in the community newsletters. It hasn't been addressed here. I've generally done the morning entries in a taxi cab this week and when I got to my destination, I went ahead and hit "Publish." Each morning, I'd remind myself I should note the schedule but I never did. Just wasn't in the mood I guess. For this site, what does it mean?

We've got two entries this morning and we will most likely have a snapshot this evening. But, no, I didn't do "I Hate The War" last night. Next week will be the problem and we haven't even announced it in the newsletters. We'll have several end of the year pieces. Where and when? I don't know, we're trying to figure that out. Again, I'm speaking of this site.

Community sites aren't sure what they're doing on New Year's Eve. What are they doing today? They're posting if there's a snasphot (and I'm planning on one). Wally and Cedric took yesterday off and others did light posting.


We'll close with this from The Bat Segundo Show:

Greetings and happy holidays from The Bat Segundo Show, the long-running cultural radio program devoted to quirky and comprehensive conversations with the cultural figures of our time.

To skip this silly description, why not go to the main site and see what it's all about?

http://www.batsegundo.com

We have four new shows to tell you about

A few weeks ago, our crew trekked up to New Rochelle and met up with the legendary writer Cynthia Ozick, where the talk shifted to Henry James, Graham Greene, collage, postwar cultural tumult, and Twitter. Ozick insisted to us that she was a "musical imbecile," but her thoughts on voice and tense (among many other topics) suggest otherwise. You can check it all out here:

http://www.edrants.com/segundo/cynthia-ozick-ii-bss-368/

"If you see her tearing every single piece of meat and bone out of every one of her enemies, then you might not have that later empathy for her at the very end of the story"

When you're carving out dystopian worlds, it's important to answer such hard questions. Paolo Bacigalupi has won the Hugo, the Nebula, and was recently nominated for the National Book Award. In a brand new and far-reaching career conversation, Bacigalupi discusses (among other things) the logical fallacies in creating a really cool character, speculative narrative details extrapolated from the present moment, and the importance of manipulative violence.

http://www.edrants.com/segundo/paolo-bacigalupi-bss-369/

Last but not least, our live conversation with Skippy Dies novelist Paul Murray has finally been released.

Murray and Our Correspondent apparently had such a good time talking at Word Brooklyn that we were forced to split the talk into two podcasts. This high-spirited conversation somehow managed to squeeze in Roland Barthes, the Celtic Tiger, video games, teenage reality, gamebooks, World War I, and a rather astonishing editorial confession involving cartoon characters that needs to be heard to be believed.

Part One features the initial Q&A between Murray and Our Correspondent.

http://www.edrants.com/segundo/paul-murray-part-one-bss-370/

Part Two features Murray reading from Skippy Dies (performing many funny voices) and a collective discussion with the crowd.

http://www.edrants.com/segundo/paul-murray-part-two-bss-371/

We'll probably have a few more shows to drop before year's end. But we wanted to let you know about these offerings if you were in need of vital audio entertainment while traveling!

If you wish to subscribe to the show with a podcatcher program (for later transfer to your iPod), copy and paste the following URL into your program:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/segundo

On the main site, there is also a black box that is rather large but friendly, should you desire to subscribe to the show via iTunes.

Safe travels, happy holidays, and thanks again for listening!

The Bat Segundo Show






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

















thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends








Thursday, December 23, 2010

Iraq snapshot

Thursday, December 23, 2010.  Chaos and violence continue, Iraqi women make clear their displeasure over the Cabinet make up, Daniel Ellsberg and Veterans for Peace get some recognition, and more.
 
Last Thursday a protest held outside the White House. One of the organizers was Veterans for Peace and Pentagon Papers whistle blower Daniel Ellsberg participated and spoke.  Juana Bordas (Washington Post) advocates for both of them to be named persons of the year:
 
 
Veterans for Peace and Daniel Ellsberg should be this year's person of the year because of their courage and bravery to stand up for all of us who believe that "war is not the answer." Moreover in a time of economic recession, the war machine is bankrupting our country. As John Amidon, a Marine Corps veteran from Albany asked at the White House protest, "How is the war economy working for you?"
While unemployment rates hover near 10 percent, there is no doubt that the U.S. economy and quality of life is faltering. Worldwide we are 14th in education, 37th in the World Health Organization's ranking on medical systems, and 23rd in the U.N. Environmental Sustainability Index on being most livable and greenest benefits. There is one place we take the undeniable world lead. The US military spending accounts for a whopping 46.5 percent of world military spending--the next ten countries combined come in at only 20.7 percent.

 
Linda Pershing (Truthout) reports, "Responding to a call from the leaders of Stop These Wars(1) - a new coalition of Veterans for Peace and other activists - participants came together in a large-scale performance of civil resistance. A group of veterans under the leadership of Veterans for Peace members Tarak Kauff, Will Covert and Elaine Brower, mother of a Marine who has served three tours of duty in Iraq, sponsored the event with the explicit purpose of putting their bodies on the line. Many participants were Vietnam War veterans; others ranged from Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans in their 20s and 30s to World War II vets in their 80s and older. They were predominately white; men outnumbered women by at least three to one. After a short rally in Lafayette Park, they formed a single-file procession, walking across Pennsylvania Avenue to the solemn beat of a drum. As they reached the police barricade (erected to prevent them from chaining themselves to the gate, a plan they announced on their web site), the activists stood shoulder to shoulder, their bodies forming a human link across the 'picture postcard' tableau in front of the White House."  Maria Chutchian (Arlington Advocate) quotes, participant Nate Goldshlag (Vietnam veteran) stating, ""There was a silent, single file march around Lafayette Park to a drum beat. Then we went in front of the White House,. There were barricades set up in front of white house fence. So when we got there, we jumped over barricades and were able to get right next to the White House fence." Participant Linda LeTendre (Daily Gazette) reports:

At the end of the rally, before the silent, solemn procession to the White House fence, in honor of those killed in Iraq and Afghan wars of lies and deceptions, the VFP played taps and folded an American flag that had been left behind at a recent funeral for the veteran of one of those wars. Two attendees in full dress uniform held and folded the flag. I had the image of all of the people who stood along the roads and bridges when the bodies of the two local men, Benjamin Osborn and David Miller, were returned to the Capital District. I thought if all of those people were here now or spoke out against war these two fine young men might still be with us.
I was blessed enough to be held in custody with one of those in uniform; a wonderful young man who had to move from his hometown in Georgia because no one understood why as a veteran he was against these wars. Even his family did not understand. (He remains in my prayers.)
Our plan was to attach ourselves to the White House fence until President Obama came out and talked to us or until we were arrested and dragged away. I don't have to tell you how it ended.
Mr. Ellsberg was one of 139 people arrested at that action.
 
 
We've noted the protest in pretty much every snapshot since last Thursday.  If something else comes out that's worth noting on the protest, we'll include it.  We will not include people who don't have their facts and it's really sad when they link to, for example, Guardian articles and the links don't even back them up.  It's real sad, for example, when they're trashing Hillary (big strong men that they are) and ripping her apart and yet Barack?  "Obama's inaccurate statements"??? What the hell is that?  You're inferring he lied, say so.  Don't be such a little chicken s**t.  It's especially embarrasing when you're grandstanding on 'truth.'  Especially when you're the little s**t that clogged up the public e-mail account here in the summer of 2008 whining that you were holding Barack to a standard, then admitting that you weren't, then whining that if you did people would be mean to you.  Oh, that's sooooooo sad. Someone might say something bad about you.  The horror.  You must suffer more than all the people in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
 
While the action took place in DC, actions also took place in other cities.  We've already noted NYC's action this week, Doug Kaufmann (Party for Socialism & Liberation) reports on the Los Angeles action:
 
Despite heavy rain, over 100 people gathered in Los Angeles on the corner of Hollywood and Highland to demand an end to the U.S. wars on Afghanistan and Iraq. People came from as far as Riverside to protest, braving what Southern California media outlets have dubbed the "storm of the decade."
The demonstration, initiated and led by the ANSWER Coalition, broke the routine of holiday shopping and garnered support from activists and even passers by, who joined in chanting "Money for jobs and education -- not for war and occupation!" and "Occupation is a crime -- Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine!" Protesters held banners reading, "U.S./NATO Out of Afghanistan!" and "Yes to jobs, housing and education -- no to war, racism and occupation!"
Speakers at the demonstration included representatives of Korean Americans for Peace, ANSWER Coalition, KmB Pro-People Youth, Veterans for Peace, Party for Socialism and Liberation and National Lawyers Guild.
 
 
Tuesday, Nouri al-Maliki managed to put away the political stalemate thanks to a lot of Scotch -- tape to hold the deal together and booze to keep your eyes so crossed you don't question how someone can claim to have formed a Cabinet when they've left over ten positions to be filled at a later date. One group speaking out is women.  Bushra Juhi and Qassmi Abdul-Zahra (AP) report, "Iraq's female lawmakers are furious that only one member of the country's new Cabinet is a woman and are demanding better representation in a government that otherwise has been praised by the international community for bringing together the country's religious sects and political parties."  As noted Tuesday, though represenation in Parliament is addressed in Iraq's Constitution, there is nothing to address women serving in the Cabinet. Aseel Kami (Reuters) notes one of the most damning aspects of Nouri's chosen men -- a man is heaing the Ministry of Women's Affairs.  Iraqiya's spokesperson Maysoon Damluji states, "There are really good women who could do wel . . . they cannot be neglected and marginalized." Al-Amal's Hanaa Edwar states, "They call it a national (power) sharing government. So where is the sharing? Do they want to take us back to the era of the harem?  Do they want to take us back to the dark ages, when women were used only for pleasure."  Deborah Amos (NPR's All Things Considered) reports that a struggle is going on between secular impulses and fundamentalist ones.   Gallery owner Qasim Sabti states, "We know it's fighting between the religious foolish man and the civilization man. We know we are fighting like Gandhi, and this is a new language in Iraqi life. We have no guns. We do not believe in this kind of fighting." Deborah Amos is the author of Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle East.  Meanwhile Nizar Latif (The National) reports that distrust is a common reaction to the new government in Baghdad and quotes high school teacher Hussein Abed Mohammad stating, "Promises were made that trustworthy, competent people would be ministers this time around, but it looks as if everything has just been divided out according to sectarian itnerests.  No attention has been paid to forming a functioning government, it is just a political settlement of vested interests. I'm sure al Maliki will have the same problems in his next four years as he had in the last four years."
 
 
Days away from the ten months mark, Nouri managed to finally end the stalemate.  Some try to make sense of it and that must have been some office party that the editorial board of the Washington Post is still coming down from judging by "A good year in Iraq." First up, meet the new Iraqi Body Count -- an organization that provides cover for the war and allows supporters of the illegal war to point to it and insist/slur "Things aren't so bad!" Sure enough, the editorial board of the Post does just that noting the laughable "civilian deaths" count at iCasualities. As we noted -- long, long before we walked away from that crap ass website, they're not doing a civilian count. They're noting how many deaths Reuters reports. They ignore AP, they ignore McClatchy, they ignore all outlets but Reuters. Last time we pointed that out, they rushed to include a few other Western outlets for a day or two. So they'll probably pull that again this time. But they are such an undercount that they regularly have even less deaths then the Iraqi government reports each month. You only cite iCasualties if you're pro-war.

And you only hail 2010 as a "good year" in Iraq if you're EUI -- editorialzing under the influence. Over 9 months without a government. And it's still not got one. The Cabinet is not full. Nine months where nothing got down. The 2007 benchmarks have never, ever been reached -- and those were benchmarks they were supposed to achieve (ideally) in one year. 2010 was further proof that Iraq's a failed state -- a point the editorial board will agree with me on only if the theft-of-Iraqi-oil legislation doesn't come to pass. At which point, forget violence and death counts, they will take to computer to insist that things are awful in Iraq. This is the year Iraq set the world record for longest time between an election and the formation of a government. And this is hailed as "a good year in Iraq"? Who spiked the egg nog?  Regardless, give them credit for giving Iraq attention since so very few do.  Jay Price (News & Observer) notes, "According to the Pew Research Center, just 4 percent of stories in the U.S. media now are about Afghanistan. And Iraq? Not even 1 percent."  Okay, don't like it, don't like Iraq falling off the radar but Price is on solid ground . . . until his next sentence: "'War fatigue,' say the experts, citing a public that's just tired of hearing about the conflicts. Also to blame is the money crunch at media companies, which have sharply cut staff in those expensive war-zone bureaus."  Now, in that last sentence, he handled that very well.  They are "media companies," they aren't news.  And they waste millions on news readers as opposed to breaking any stories via investigative journalism.  So he's correct there.  But these "experts"?  Who the hell are they?  They clearly don't know what they're speaking of and if Jay Price had read the actual report Pew put out, he would know that.  From the report: "The situation in Iraq was followed very closely by 19% of the public and a similar number (17%) say they very closely followed news about the administration's review of its Afghan war strategy. The situation in Afghanistan and the review of the war's progress accounted for 5% of the newshole, while Iraq made up 1% of coverage."  This was a survey os news consumers and the people put Iraq at numbr 15 on "Public's Top Stories for 2010."  In addition, 19% were following it very closely.  But it only made up 1% of the coverage.  I don't think those figures demonstrate burnout and I'll match my research & methodology skills up against anyone else. Burnout would be somewhere around 4% or less of the public saying they were following it. Trudy Rubin gets her lumps and praises from me.  And I'm sure I'll call her out (negatively) in the future (as I've done many times) and I'm sure I'll throw some earned praise her way in the future (ibid).  But one thing that she needs praise for that I haven't given her recognition for is that she may be the one of the only US columnist who is still regularly going to Iraq.  Her paper is the Philadelphia Inqurier but she's also syndicated throughout the US.  Thomas Friedman lost interest in Iraq long ago (shortly after the war he helped sell had no "turned corner" despite his forever assuring the world a turned corner was just up ahead aways).  Bob Herbert doesn't go to Iraq.  Paul Krugman's got no idea what's going on in Iraq.  The only columnist besides Trudy Rubin that I'm aware of regularly going to Iraq is David Ignatius (Washington Post).  (National Journal may have some -- I don't generally read their columnists.)  She deserves credit for that.  She also deserves credit for the scope of her columns.  Hopefully she'll inspire others because we could use a lot more her and a lot less Gail Collins-types who think they write cute and that might be true if we were all still in eighth grade.  One of the thing Rubin's written of in 2010 especially was the fate of her driver Salam.  So we'll excerpt on that topic from her latest column:
 
Salam spent two years in jail on false charges brought by relatives of Shiite militiamen from the Mahdi Army of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. These militiamen, who were killing Salam's neighbors, were arrested after he tipped U.S. troops. When American soldiers left Baghdad, the killers used contacts inside Iraq's Shiite-dominated army to get Salam - and his two teenage sons - jailed.
The three were finally freed by an honest judge. But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has now made a political deal with the Sadrists in order to finally form a government, nine months after Iraqi elections. The deal, brokered by Iran, required that large numbers of Mahdi Army thugs - like those Salam fingered - be freed from prison. This deal resurrects a fiercely anti-American group that battled U.S. forces until it was routed in 2008.
With Sadrists on the loose, Salam began receiving death threats. He told me he was going to flee Iraq (to a country that, out of concern for his safety, I won't name). No one answered when I phoned him in Baghdad.
Maliki, for his part, is still dickering over key government posts with the Sadrists, who hold a crucial bloc of 40 parliamentary seats. Iran obviously influences Sadr, who lives in Iran, as well as other political parties whose leaders troop regularly to Tehran.


 
 
Nafa Abdul Jabbar (AFP) quotes Iraqi Christian Mariam Daniel asking, "How can a mother celebrate a feast while her son was killed by the enemies of this country, how can we have a feast while my grandsons are crying for their father? Wher is the feast when I see the tears in the eyes of my daughter-in-law and her loneliness which was caused by hands covered with the blood of innocents?"  Yet another wave of violence targeting Iraqi Christians is underway.  This wave started October 31st with the assault on Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad in which approximately 70 people were killed and at least 70 more wounded.  In the waves of violence which have followed, Mosul and Baghdad have been the primary targeted areas.  Many Iraqi Christians have left for northern Iraq (the KRG which has seen an influx of at least 1,000 families since the October 31st attack on the Church) or have left the country.  Meanwhile Sam Dagher (Wall St. Journal) reports, "Hundreds of Christian students from towns and villages on the outskirts of Mosul have stopped attending the main university in Mosul despite offers by the Iraqi army to bus them in and out." Dagher quotes college student Anwar Matti explaining, "We just do not trust them anymore."  And now Christmas approaches.
 
Yahya Barzanji and Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) report Christmas celebrations and any public signs of observance have been called off in Iraq by "a council representing Christian denominations" and let's step aside for just a second to grasp that this council is predominately made up of the public voices who have insisted that Iraqi Christians must stay in Iraq, who have basically issued that order leading many to wonder what was really going on? Did they want to create martyrs? If you can't worship freely, there's no reason to urge Iraqi Christians to stay in Iraq. They're no longer just under threat of violence, they're now not allowed to worship publicly. In terms of the religion being practicied, this isn't a minor detail. Marco 't Hoen (Epoch Times) adds, "Churches in Bagdad, Kirkuk, Basra, and Mosul have asked members not to decorate their houses, and the churches canceled Christmas Mass and planned Christmas celebrations."  Khalid Al Qushtaini (Iraqhurr.org) fears that the shared history Christianity and Islam have had in Iraq has been forgotten.
 
The New York Times sees fit to run a whole paragraph (that is sarcasm) on the issue (written by Jack Healy). Jomana Karadsheh (CNN) adds, "There will be no Christmas Eve mass, no Santa or decorations at some churches during Christmas or the New Year, Sako said. Some churches will continue with Christmas Day mass as usual. Cancellations don't include the relatively safe Kurdish region in northern Iraq." IRIN notes, "Hundreds of Iraqi Christians are fleeing to the northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region and particularly the town of Ankawa, which has become a safe haven for the country's Christians, thanks to its special status and privileges granted by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Ankawa, near Erbil, KRG's capital, has a predominantly Christian population and administration, several churches and distinct Assyrian language." England's Journeyman Pictures offers this report (transcript and video -- if you don't see the clip option, click here). In the report, which aired on England's Channel 4, Lindsey Hilsum observes, "Christmas service at St. George's -- the only church in Baghdad celebrating fully this year." Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) observes, "Given the number of high profile killings and complaints that the Iraqi government seems disinterested in protecting them, this Christmas will be a grim one for Iraqis indeed. But at the rate they are fleeing the country, it may be one of the last ones marked at all.
Martin Chulov (Guardian) points out, "It has been the worst of years for the country's Christians, with thousands fleeing in the past month and more leaving the country during 2010 than at any time since the invasion nearly eight years ago. Christian leaders say there have been few more defining years in their 2,000-year history in central Arabia." And Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad?  Nafa Abdul Jabbar (AFP) reports, "Instead of Christmas deocrations, the front of the sanctuary holds a banner picturing the two priests and the worshippers killed in the attack framing an image of a bloodied Jesus on the cross, while individual pictures of victims sit below." 
 
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has sounded alarms repeatedly since the last wave started and attempted to draw attention to the targeting.  Richard Greene (CNN -- this is a video report) spoke with the USCIRF's Nina Shea who noted, "The worst place of all [for Christians] undoubtedly is Iraq, where there was a recent church bombing, but we've also seen church attacks and village attacks in Egypt. We saw the deportation of scores of Christians in the relatively moderate country of Morocco. There is a pastor -- a Christian pastor -- on death row for apostasy in Iran.  And in Pakistan, now for the first time a Christian woman has been condemned to death for blasphemy." And USCIRF's Leonard Leo and Talal Eid pen a column for the Washington Post which includes:
 
The barbaric war against Christians is part of a broader attack against Iraq's non-Muslim minorities. Mandaeans, who follow John the Baptist, and Yizidis, who adhere to an angel-centered religion, have also been viciously persecuted by violent, radical Islamists. The Mandaeans in Iraq are believed to number only a few thousand, down from an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 in 2003.
For Christians, the fate of another religious minority, Iraq's Jewish community, provides a grim example of what the future may hold. Like Iraq's Christians, the Jews were there for more than 20 centuries. As of 1947, the country's Jewish population exceeded 50,000. Today only a handful remains.
For humanitarian reasons alone, the U.S. and the world must hear and heed the anguished cries of Iraqi Christians.
Yet there is another, equally compelling reason to care.
Simply stated, it is in the interests of the U.S. and the international community that Iraq becomes a force for freedom and stability in the Middle East.
If that is the goal, then the eradication of its Christian community would be a colossal setback. It would remove an educated and successful community, as well as a historically moderating force that served for centuries as a bridge between East and West. If liberty and security are to prevail over violent extremism and intolerance, bridge-building is essential.
 
Which is why, in the US and around the world, so many are puzzled by US President Barack Obama's silence on the issue.  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted (and called out) the targeting of Iraqi Christians last month and US Vice President Joe Biden called it out last week while chairing a UN Security Council meeting.  But Barack has remained silent and his silence continues.  Leonard Leo sees the issue of leadership as a more national one and tells Richard Greene (CNN -- text report), "We've got to have governments taking ownership of these problems and enforcing the laws that exist." However, Catholic Culture reports that Italy's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini, is calling for Europe and the European Council to recognize the targeting and he states, "Frankly, it is a little sad that Euope isn't reacting on this issue as it should."
 
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
 
Bombings?
 
Reuters notes 2 Baghdad roadside bombings left one police officer wounded.
 
 
Shootings?
 
Alsumaria TV reports that an Iraqi police officer was injured in a Baghdad shooting today and that the assailants used a gun with a silencer.  Reuters notes 1 police officer was shot dead in Mosul. Reuters notes 1 police officer was shot dead in Mosul.
 
Corpses?
 
Alsumaria TV reports 1 female corpse was discovered in Kirkuk.
 
In other news, Hashim Ali (Iraqhurr.org) reports that and investigation into whether or not Iraq's private banks were money laundering has returned the decision that they were not and Abdul Rahman al-Mashhadani, a financial expert states, "The offices of the banking and brokerage firms may be a convenient from for money laundering process or may not but the central bank is not overseeing any laundering at the private banks."  Alsumaria TV reports that Jalal Talabani, the president of Iraq, is in Turkey where he and Turkish President Abdullah Gal are discussing "bilateral relations and economic cooperation."
 
From Amnesty International, we'll note "Iraq must ensure release of police officer detained without charge:"

Amnesty International has called on the Iraqi authorities to free a police officer, initially detained because he was suspected of having links to armed groups, who has been held for over a month after an order for his release was made.
Qusay 'Abdel-Razaq Zabib has been held for over two years apparently on suspicion of collaborating with armed groups opposed to the Iraqi government and the presence of US forces in Iraq although no charges have ever been brought against him.
An order for his release was issued in November but he is still being held at a police station in Tikrit, where he is at risk of torture. It appears that those detaining him may be seeking to extract some sort of ransom payment from the family of Qusay 'Abdel-Razaq Zabib before releasing him.
"Iraq's new government must now intervene and ensure that the order for the release of Qusay 'Abdel-Razaq Zabib is implemented without further delay and not made subject to the payment of a ransom or other illegal obstruction," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa.
"After more than two years in detention without facing any charge or trial, it is high time that Qusay 'Abdel-Razaq Zabib is released and reunited with his family."
Qusay 'Abdel-Razaq Zabib worked as a police officer in the village of 'Uwaynat, near Tikrit, at the time of his arrest by US forces in July 2008.
They reportedly suspected him of having links to armed groups involved in violent attacks but never brought any charges against him.
He was still held at Camp Taji when US forces handed over control of that prison to the Iraqi government on 31 March 2010. A month earlier, the US authorities had recommended his release.
In mid-November, the Iraqi authorities at last ordered the release of Qusay 'Abdel-Razaq Zabib. He was transferred to al-Rusafa prison for one day, then on to the police station where he formerly worked, apparently in preparation for his imminent release.
Instead, the father of two has continued to be detained there.
Initially, the reason given for his continued detention was that the Anti-Terrorism bureau in Najaf was looking for an individual of the same name. However, his family were able to obtain a certificate stating that Qusay 'Abdel-Razaq Zabib is not the man wanted by the bureau.
His family have since been told repeatedly that he is to be released but he remains in custody.

 
 
the washington post
juana bordas
the daily gazette
linda letendre