Saturday, January 21, 2012

Crisis continues, Nouri cowers before Iran, Biden gets called out in Iraqi media

Abeer Mohammed for the "highly compromised" Institute for War & Peace Reporting argues that the plan of the League of Righteous to join the political process in Iraq may end up "further alienating Sunni Arabs while sparking rivalries between competing Shia groups." Mohammed notes that Moqtada al-Sadr has issued a statement decrying the planned inclusion and insistng of the League of Righteous that they are "killers with no religion -- all they care about is position." (For a critique of the War & Peace Reporting Institute see, PDF format warning, Edward S. Herman and David Peterson's "Milosevic's Death in the Propaganda System" and Herman and Peterson's "Marlise Simons on the Yugoslavia Tribunal: A Study in Total Propaganda Service.") Nouri started the political crisis and seems to have his hands in every move since that further inflames the crisis. From yesterday's snapshot:

Ali al-Tuwaijri (AFP) reports that Nouri's forces arrested Ghabdan al-Khazraji, the Deputy Governor of Investments Diyala Province, and attempted to arrest the Deputy Governor of Administrative Affairs Talal al-Juburi.but he's now in the Kurdsitan Regional Government. The two are Sunni and they are also members of Iraqiya. The arrest follows Wednesday's arrest. Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) explained, "Baghdad Provincial Council Vice President Riyadh al-Adhadh was arrested on terrorism charges and stands accused of financing a terrorist group in Abu Ghraib. Adhadh is a Sunni doctor who founded a free clinic in Adhamiya and is the focus of an English-language documentary on Iraq. The Iraqi Islamic Party condemned the action and called it an "unprecedented escalation" in the political arena."Italic

And more arrest connections to Nouri, AFP reports on the reaction to the arrest of Baghdad Deputy Mayor Naeem Abboub (Sunni and member of Iraqiya). "19 officials and tribal leaders" in Nasiriyah were arrested yesterday after they confronted the brother of Sherwan al-Waili demanding that Sherwan retract his accusations against Abboub. Sherwan al-Waili is"a lawmaker belonging to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's bloc". Strange isn't it how Nouri's finger prints can be found on all the attacks?

As the political crisis continues, Al Sabaah notes increased cries for the leaders to follow the Constitution. Al Mannarah covers a State of Law MP who told the press Friday that she asked Iraqiya to return to sessions of Parliament but that Iraqiya stated they were busy in negotiations with the National Alliance. Sunday a meet-up is set to take place. Al Sabaah explains that it is now expected that the meet-up will result in the announcement of a day for the National Conference. Since December President Jalal Talabani and Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi have been calling for a national conference to address the political crisis.

As the crisis continues, Iraq continues to have problems with neighbors its shares borders with. Saud al-Zahid (Al Arabiya) reports the latest, "Commander of Iraqn's Quds Force, Brig. Gen. Qasem Soleimani has said that the Islamic Republic controls 'one way or another' over Iraq and south Lebanon and that Tehran is capable of influencing the advent of Islamist governments in order to fight 'arrogant' powers, ISNA student agency reported on Thursday." Following that announcement, there were four responses. Alsumaria TV reports, "Iraqi Sadr Movement headed by Cleric Sayyed Muqtada Al Sadr rebuked, on Friday, Iranian Quds Forces Commander Qassim Suleimani for declaring that Iraq is subject to Iran's will and that there is a potential to form an Islamic government in Iraq. These statements are unacceptable, Sadr Movement argued assuring that it doesn't allow any pretext to interfere in Iraqi internal affairs." Moqtada's bloc responds. KUNA notes that Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari released a statement which includes, "Iraq has not and will never be affiliated to anyone and will not be a toy in others' game or a place to settle scores between different parties." Alsumaria TV also notes Kurdistan Alliance MP Mahmoud Othman objecting to the statements and terming them "a blatant interference in the affairs of Iraq." And Aswat al-Iraq reports:

Al-Iraqiya Bloc's spokeswoman Maysoon al-Damalouji called today the Iraqi government to officially reply to Iranian Quds Brigade Commander statement that Iraq is subject to Tehran's will.
In a statement, received by Aswat al-Iraq, al-Iraqiya Bloc expressed "sorrow for such statement by General Qassim Sulaimani for being Iraq is under the will of Teheran", while the bloc is "trying to build balanced relations with the neighboring countries to achieve peace, security and stability in the region, based on joint interests and non interference in others' internal affairs".


But Nouri al-Maliki who bitched, moaned and whined to remain prime minister? He has no statement, he has no response. What a 'leader.'

In other signs of great 'leadership,' Al Sabaah reports that there is a Cabinet plan to reduce the rations cards so many Iraqis depend upon for basic staples (tea, flour, sugar, milk, etc.). But not to worry because while Iraqis might have to do without, Nouri continues to pursue weaponry that will allow him (he hopes) to remain in power. Dar Addustour reports that an unnamed "high-ranking" Ministry of Defense source reveals that Nouri is negotiating futher weaponry contracts with the US including radar equipment and that there is a rush to push this deal through on the Iraqi side.

Violence continued today. Reuters notes 1 nurse was shot dead in Mosul when "his private medical clin" was stormed, a Qaiyara gunfire exchange left 1 police officer and 1 suspect dead and a police officer's Hawija home was attacked leaving 1 of his relatives dead and the officer injured.
In addition, AP notes 1 police officer was shot dead in Baghdad and 2 Iraqi soldiers were shot dead in Falluja.

In other news, Al Mada offers a suggestion for US Vice President Joe Biden: Wake up. They note a message of praise Biden offered yesterday on Iraq and suggest he wake up, rub his eyes and see what's really going on in Iraq. They call him to express humility, recognize the serious nature of the political crisis and the nature of what the US has done to Iraq, offer a public apology and change the US Ambassador to Iraq. (James Jeffry is the current ambassador.)

Finally to three who e-mailed Friday to inform that they'd covered Chris Hill as well, I heard of your e-mails. Martha and Shirley informed me of that. So there was no need to write again on Saturday. Your e-mails weren't missed and I wasn't waiting to highlight you. Why would I highlight you?

Friday morning, out of the gate, here we called out Chris Hill. Yes, you went on to call him out later that day.

Know what I did later that day?

Among other things, one of the groups we spoke to about the wars was a social media group, college students. And the women talked about how the men -- in this group -- expected all their causes and writings to get linked to and 'bumped up' and thumbed up and this and that but never did a damn thing for the women in the group. They were really mad about that. (And the men had no excuses, they stumbled and stammered but they had no excuse that made up for their behaivor.) So listening to them, I thought about how my own actions here reward that.

I don't ask for links. I don't ask for highlights. I don't care. I can afford to. I'm not trying to make a name with this site or make money off it. But that doesn't mean I should reinforce bad behavior that's going to hurt other women.

So when Shirley and Martha told me about your 3 e-mails Friday and when Martha stressed that one of you linked to the other two and Martha really stressed that despite your claiming, in your e-mail, that "your takedown of Chris Hill was perfection!," you didn't link to my piece, my attitude was forget it.

Not because it matters if you link to me or not but because your pigs. All three of you, too chicken to call out Chris Hill until this woman does, and then begging me in e-mails for links to your pieces. Your pieces that really aren't offering anything of value, I should add.

I thought about those young women and I'm just not interested in being part of this problem. If you're e-mailing me for links, I better start seeing women linked to by you. (It doesn't have to be me and I'd prefer that it not be me.) I'm sick of your circle jerk and your refusal to include women. And I'm just not interested in highlighting your Chris Hill posts.

I don't need your posts to "back up" (quoting another e-mail from the three) what I said about Chris Hill. Here, I covered the Chris Hill confirmation hearing while you were off doing 'cultural' posts or some other cotten-candy-for-the-mind crap. I attended the hearing, I reported on it here. I reported on it in two consecutive snapshots. I had major reservations about Hill prior to the hearing, they were confirmed in the hearing, I then noted it would be a huge mistake for Hill to be confirmed. When he did get confirmed, we were the only ones to note that, within one week, he had already broken a promise he made the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And I can go on and on. In other words, what you only recently discovered or only recently felt comfortable talking about? That's a trail we blazed here in real time.

You can stop e-mailing.

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The White House's favorite terrorist organization

BBC News quotes Rose McMenemy, widow of Alan McMenemy, stating, "We have worried about Alan every single minute of each waking day. We now know that we will shortly have Alan home again, this will allow us to properly grieve for him and we will draw some comfort from the fact that we have him home at last."

From the June 9, 2009 snapshot:


This morning the New York Times' Alissa J. Rubin and Michael Gordon offered "
U.S. Frees Suspect in Killing of 5 G.I.'s." Martin Chulov (Guardian) covered the same story, Kim Gamel (AP) reported on it, BBC offered "Kidnap hope after Shia's handover" and Deborah Haynes contributed "Hope for British hostages in Iraq after release of Shia militant" (Times of London). The basics of the story are this. 5 British citizens have been hostages since May 29, 2007. The US military had in their custody Laith al-Khazali. He is a member of Asa'ib al-Haq. He is also accused of murdering five US troops. The US military released him and allegedly did so because his organization was not going to release any of the five British hostages until he was released. This is a big story and the US military is attempting to state this is just diplomacy, has nothing to do with the British hostages and, besides, they just released him to Iraq. Sami al-askari told the New York Times, "This is a very sensitive topic because you know the position that the Iraqi government, the U.S. and British governments, and all the governments do not accept the idea of exchanging hostages for prisoners. So we put it in another format, and we told them that if they want to participate in the political process they cannot do so while they are holding hostages. And we mentioned to the American side that they cannot join the political process and release their hostages while their leaders are behind bars or imprisoned." In other words, a prisoner was traded for hostages and they attempted to not only make the trade but to lie to people about it. At the US State Dept, the tired and bored reporters were unable to even broach the subject. Poor declawed tabbies. Pentagon reporters did press the issue and got the standard line from the department's spokesperson, Bryan Whitman, that the US handed the prisoner to Iraq, the US didn't hand him over to any organization -- terrorist or otherwise. What Iraq did, Whitman wanted the press to know, was what Iraq did. A complete lie that really insults the intelligence of the American people. CNN reminds the five US soldiers killed "were: Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, California; 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Nebraska; Spc. Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Gonzales, Louisiana; Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Cortland, New York; and Pfc. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Alabama." Those are the five from January 2007 that al-Khazali and his brother Qais al-Khazali are supposed to be responsible for the deaths of. Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Robert H. Reid (AP) states that Jonathan B. Chism's father Danny Chism is outraged over the release and has declared, "They freed them? The American military did? Somebody needs to answer for it."

Last month, the League of Righteous announced that they had killed Alan McMenemy and had done so years ago. They offered the body to the British consulate (and finally followed up on that offer by delivering it yesterday). Conal Urquhart (Guardian) quotes the 'excuse' the League of Righteous' leader Qais al-Khazali offered last month for the murders:

The brothers told me that those four bodyguards tried to escape … they took advantage of a negligent moment and took the weapon of one of their guards and the clash ensued and led to this result. We honestly are sorry for that incident.

The League of Righteous announced at the same time that they were rejoining the political process in Iraq and that they planned to disarm in the immediate future. Adrian Blomfield (Telegraph of London) explains:


Khazali was in US custody at the time of the kidnappings but was freed hours before Mr Moore's release.
The decision to free Mr McMenemy appears to be part of a negotiated deal with Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's Shia prime minister, to bring Asaib al-Haq into the political fold – a move that has caused alarm in Washington.
A splinter faction of the Mahdi Army led by Moqtada al Sadr, the radical Shia cleric, Asaib al-Haq persisted with a campaign of violence long after other insurgent groups laid down their weapons. It carried out a string of deadly rocket attacks on US bases last year and was responsible for the last American military fatality, a soldier killed in a roadside bomb in Baghdad a month before US troops completed their withdrawal from Iraq in December.

Any alarm the White House now feels -- now feels -- should have gone off back in the spring of 2009 when they agreed to make the release. They had the leader, his brother and several others in custody and could have scheduled a trial. They elected not to. Their decision was to ignore the deaths of 5 American soldiers and go with Nouri (again, they've always gone with Nouri) who just knew that four bodyguards would be released -- corpses. So instead of justice, the White House was willing to trade the fallen Americans for British corpses. (Peter Moore was already released prior to the June 2009 deal.) And they were so stupid they couldn't even pull that off. They got three corpses out of the deal and over two years later the League decides to release the fourth.

Justice is what the White House should have pursued instead of that lousy deal that allowed killers to go free (and as late as August 2009, the US military was still releasing League of Righteous members under this deal, even after the League only released three corpses). Maybe in a presidential debate, if the issue of terrorism is raised, someone will ask Barack Obama why he decided to make a deal with terrorists when such a deal had no benefit at all to the United States? Since such a question would have to come from a political opponent onstage with Barack -- due to the press well known and documented refusal to ever ask Barack tough questions -- maybe the follow up could be, "On top of that, how does it feel to be punked by the League which used the last weeks of November and December 2011 to launch attacks on American service members and is said to be responsible for at least one death during that time?"

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Friday, January 20, 2012

Iraq snapshot

Friday, January 20, 2012. Chaos and violence continue, Grand Ayatollah Sistani is worried about an outbreak of civil war in Iraq, Nouri orders more Iraqiya members arrested, the political crisis continues, and more.

Iraq is a young nation. The years of war and sanctions have ensured that. If you never grasped how young it was, understand that it has a CIA estimate of roughly 26 million people currently and Aswat al-Iraq reports, "The Iraqi Education Ministry announced today that about 8 million students of primary, intermediate and secondary schools will have their mid year examinations tomorrow." A little less than a third of the population will be taking exams in Iraq tomorrow. The CIA figure for the country's median age is 20.9 years -- for Iraqi males it's 20.8 years and for Iraq females it's 21 years.

Which is why the hatred Nouri al-Maliki fosters is all the sadder. Unlike the exile the Americans put in charge, most Iraqis aren't carrying decades old grudges. They simply aren't old enough to have done so.

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear
You've got to be taught
From year to year
It's got to be drummed
In your deaf little ear
You've got to be carefully taught
-- "You've Got to be Carefully Taught," written by Rodgers & Hammerstein, first appears in their musical South Pacific

And though he's a failure as a prime minister, Nouri excells at teaching hate.

And teaching fear by constantly screaming about "Ba'athists" all around just waiting to overthrow the government. Referring to his rivals as "ants" that he must apparently crush.

Always with the melodrama, like last October when Nouri repeatedly commented on the "terrorists" and "Ba'athists" that he was 'forced' to arrest because they were plotting an overthrow of the government. His spokesperson insisted the information was solid and had come from the newly installed Libyan government. Dropping back to the October 27th snapshot:


But back to those eyes and ears al-Asadi was claiming,
Al Mada reveals that the government is stating their source for the 'tips' about the alleged Ba'athist plot to take over Iraq came from the Transitional Government of Libya. The so-called rebels. A number of whom were in Iraq killing both Iraqis and US troops and British troops, several years ago. And supposedly prepping to rule Libya currently so you'd assume they had their hands full.


Tim Arango (New York Times) maintains that "secret intelligence documents" were discovered by the so-called 'rebels' that provided a link between Libya's late president Muammar Gaddafi and Ba'ath Party members and that Mahmoud Jibril made a trip to Baghdad to turn over the info. Jibril was acting prime minister who stepped down October 23rd. (We're back to when puppet regimes meet!) One would have assumed he had other things to focus on. It's also curious that this 'rebel' would have 'learned' after the fall of Tripoli of a plot. Curious because, unlike a number of 'rebel' leaders in Libya, Langley didn't ship Jibril in from Virginia, he was Gaddafi's hand picked head of the National Economic Development Board (2007 to 2011). One would assume he would have been aware of any big plot long before the so-called rebels began the US war on Libya.



Yet January 5th, Al Mada reported that hundreds of those arrested were now being released. And that officials say the government is expected to release every one arrested. When the arrests started taking place weeks ago, the press estimate was over 500, with some noting over 700 but most going with the lower figure. Dar Addustour informed 820 Iraqis were arrested in that crackdown..


Critics of the arrests noted that it appeared Nouri was targeting Sunnis. Of those recent mass arrests, McClatchy Newspapers states "Western diplomats scoff at the idea that the arrests were aimed at thwarting a coup" and quotes one unnamed diplomat stating, "This is just paranoia." AP notes that a spokesperson for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani declared that the country "cannot bear further tensions among politicians."

The Bush administration was wrong to install him as prime minister in 2006 (the Iraqi Parliament wanted Ibrahim al-Jaafari) and Barack Obama's administration was deadly wrong when they chose to insist that he be given a second term in 2010.

He fled Iraq and Saddam Hussein and lived in exiles for years, decades. Nursing his hatred, telling himself that some day he had his vengeance. And when he got what he wanted, the death of Saddam Hussein, he still couldn't move forward. Fahad Abdullah tells Jasim Alsabawi (Rudaw), "Maliki should have used the opportunity after the withdrawal of the US forces to begin a new era for the rise of Iraq and embrace everyone under one Iraq." There is nothing left in him but the hatred as he chases ghosts.

It's just the ghost of what you really want
And it's the ghost of the past that you live in
And it's the ghost of the furture you're so frightented of
-- "Ghosts," written by Stevie Nicks and Mike Campbell, first appears on Stevie's The Other Side of the Mirror
All he has are the ghosts of the past. He goes after political rivals and threatens Iraq's internal safety. Already he's declared Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi a terrorist and demanded Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq be stripped of his title. al-Hashemi and al-Mutlaq are both Sunni and members of Iraqiya. The Iraqiya aspect goes to the political rivalry (Iraqiya bested State of Law in the March 2010 elections -- Ayad Allawi heads Iraqiya, Nouri heads State of Law). The Sunni aspect could further the divisions between the sects and, some fear, return Iraq to the days of 2006 and 2007 when the sects were in an open war against one another.

Ali al-Tuwaijri (AFP) reports that Nouri's forces arrested Ghabdan al-Khazraji, the Deputy Governor of Investments Diyala Province, and attempted to arrest the Deputy Governor of Administrative Affairs Talal al-Juburi.but he's now in the Kurdsitan Regional Government. The two are Sunni and they are also members of Iraqiya. The arrest follows Wednesday's arrest. Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) explained, "Baghdad Provincial Council Vice President Riyadh al-Adhadh was arrested on terrorism charges and stands accused of financing a terrorist group in Abu Ghraib. Adhadh is a Sunni doctor who founded a free clinic in Adhamiya and is the focus of an English-language documentary on Iraq. The Iraqi Islamic Party condemned the action and called it an "unprecedented escalation" in the political arena."

As the political crisis continues, Roy Gutman, Sahar Issa and Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) report:


Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's security services have locked up more than 1,000 members of other political parties over the past several months, detaining many of them in secret locations with no access to legal counsel and using "brutal torture" to extract confessions, his chief political rival has charged.
Ayad Allawi, the secular Shiite Muslim leader of the mainly Sunni Muslim Iraqiya bloc in parliament, who served as prime minister of the first Iraqi government after the Americans toppled Saddam Hussein, has laid out his allegations in written submissions to Iraq's supreme judicial council.


The reporters call the above "the second major broadside this week" and note: "London's Guardian newspaper reported Monday on an extortion racket involving Iraqi state security officials who systematically arrest people on trumped-up charges, torture them and then extort bribes from their families for their release." From the Guardian article by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad:


"Look," he added, "the system now is just like under Saddam: walk by the wall, don't go near politics and you can walk with your head high and not fear anything. But if you come close to the throne then the wrath of Allah will fall on you and we have eyes everywhere."
He described the arrest of the Sunni vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi's bodyguards who, it was claimed by the Shia-dominated government, had been paid by Hashimi to assassinate Shia officials. (Hashimi was on a plane heading to Kurdistan when government forces took over the airport, preventing him from leaving. After a standoff, he was allowed to fly but his men where detained.)
"Look what happened to the poor bodyguards of Hashimi, they were tortured for a week. They took them directly to our unit and they were interrogated severely. Even an old general was hanging from the ceiling. Do you know what I mean by hanging?"
In the constricted space of the car he pulled his arms up behind his back.
"They hang him like this. Sometimes they beat them with cables and sticks and sometimes they just leave them hanging from a metal fence for three days. They are torturing them trying to get them to confess to the bombing of the parliament."



Al Mada reported, yes, another secret prison run by Nouri. The Human Rights Committee in Parliament declared Wednesday that another secret prison ("Briagde 56") exists and it is run by Nouri (as were the others). They do not yet know the location of the prison.

Al Sabaah reports that the National Alliance is studying a list of requirements President Jalal Talabani has made for the national conference with the apparent intent of discussing them in Sunday's pre-national conference meet-up. Al Mada reports that the Sadr bloc is stating Moqtada al-Sadr might -- only might -- attend the national conference. Whether he does or not, the Sadr bloc stated Moqtada is following all the developments. Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq leader Ammar al-Hakim is calling for a return to political parternership and a return to Constitutional rule. Aswat al-Iraq quotes Kurdish Alliance MP Shwan Mohammed Taha stating, "If Iraqi politicians differ on the venue of the conference, how they will be able [to] find the solutions to the present crisis.[. . .] We, as the Kurdish Alliance, have no problem withwhere it shall be convened, but we welcomefor it to be held in Kurdistan." They also quote Kurdish Alliance MP Ashwaq al-Jaff stating there is a need to "finalize the agenda before entering the conference to avoid any surprises, which may lead certain bloc to withdraw."

al-Hakim and al-Sadr's groups are part of the National Alliance and Al Mada notes rumors that the National Alliance is calling for Mahmoud al-Mashhadani to become the new Deputy Prime Minister. He would replace Saleh al-Mutlaq whom Nouri has insisted since December must be stripped of his post. Ibrahim al-Jaafari heads the National Alliance and he states that they would be happy for Nouri and al-Mutlaq to resolve the matter themselves. If not, al-Jaafari expresses the opinion that al-Mutlaq should announce his resignation.

Mahmoud al-Mashhadani was Speaker of Parliament from 2006 until the end of 2008. After initially praising him, the Bush administration decided they did not care for the Sunni politician and launched a public relations war against him (which the New York Times enlisted in portraying him as depressed and hiding in his father's home when he was, in fact, in Jordan on a diplomatic trip). The US backed off somewhat after 2007 came to a close and they'd been unable to force him out as Speaker of Parliament. Considering the charges against some Sunni politicians, it's strange that he'd be accetable. Damien Cave and Richard A. Oppel Jr. (New York Times) wrote in June of 2007, "Iraq's leading political blocs agreed yesterday to remove the Sunni speaker of Parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, from his position. The move came after accusations arose that his bodyguards assaulated a Shiite lawmaker yesterday as al-Mashhadani cursed him and then dragged him to the speaker's office." Despite that assertion, al-Mashhadani remained as Speaker of Parliament for the rest of 2007, through 2008 and only left in December 2008 by his own choice.

Elliott Woods (Businessweek) surveys the business prospects and, in doing so, notes recent violence, "The wave of violence that has rocked the country since the last U.S. troops rolled back across the border into Kuwait on Dec. 18 began with a dozen coordinated attacks in Baghdad on Dec. 22 that killed upwards of 60 people; then there were the Jan. 5 bombings in Kadhimiya and Sadr City and another attack on a bus full of Shiite pilgrims the same day, near the holy city of Karbala. All 30 passengers died. Fifty-three more pilgrims were killed near Basra on Jan. 14, and 10 died in attacks on a police station in Ramadi the next day. Add the victims of drive-by shootings and bombings at military and police checkpoints from Fallujah to Mosul, and the total number of dead in the month since the withdrawal tops 250." Today's violence? Reuters notes 1 police officer shot dead in Mosul, 1 person shot in front of his Mosul home and a Hawija roadside bombing which claimed 2 lives and left five people injured. Aswatl al-Iraq adds that 1 man was kidnapped in Kirkuk on Thursday and another today (the one today by assailants wearing Iraqi military uniforms), that the Kirkuk home of two brothers (who were members of Sahwa) was bombed (no one was hurt), and a Kirkuk bombing claimed 2 lives.

This week's violence included an attack on the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad Wednesday. Hasan Kanbolat (Today's Zaman) observes:


Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki keeps creating tension in the bilateral relations between Turkey and Iraq in a systematic way. By pointing to Turkey as a target, the Iraqi government ensured the issuance of an arrest warrant for Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi.
Maliki has been making offensive statements against Turkey. Most recently, the tension was escalated by a new attack on the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad on Jan. 18, 2012. In this way, we see there are attempts to ensure the artificial tension is replaced by a new crisis.
Turkey is the only country that did not close its embassy in Iraq after 2003. Even though there have been three attacks against the embassy in Baghdad. Turkey still remained committed to its work in the country. The Turkish Embassy in Baghdad is one of only a few diplomatic missions outside the Green Zone which is known for its heightened security and surrounded by tall walls in downtwon Baghdad. The protection of the Turkish Embassy, located in the al-Wazireya neighborhood, where high-level executives used to live in the city, is the responsibility of Iraqi security forces. The Turkish Embassy is visibly
connected to the neighborhood in which it is located; the embassy's relationship with nearby residents is such that the embassy supplies electricity to them. And the neighborhood also serves as the natural protector of the embassy. This is why it won't be too difficult to determine where and how the attack was staged.
McClatchy's Sahar Issa filed a very throrough report on the attack. KUNA notes today that Iraqi Foreign Minister "Hoshyar Zebari contacted his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu and strongly condemned the criminal act."

On the topic of the continued occupation of Iraq, Dar Addustour reports that Sadr bloc MP Ali al-Tamimi told Alsumaria that the position of Moqtada al-Sadr and the bloc is that the presence of the US Embassy on Iraqi soil as well as all the contractors staffing the US mission are as threatening and dangerous as the military and that these are "occupation forces." Drexel University's professor Robert Zaller explains (at The Triangle), "There will be residual forces in Iraq as trainers and advisers, but these will be private contractors and black-ops types. We are not leaving behind any potential hostages we cannot disavow if necessary. There will also be security for the mega-sized embassy -- the world's largest -- we leave behind in Baghdad's Green Zone. In addition, the U.S. retains a consulate of 1,320 people, which will remain in the port of Basra; a staging base should we ever return; and a tripwire for future hostilities with Iran. In short, the American occupation of Iraq is not over. As long as that is the case, we cannot say the war is over, either."

In the US new data on military suicides has been released. Elisabeth Bumiller (New York Times) reports, "Suicides among active-duty soldiers hit another record high in 2011, Army officials said on Thursday, although there was a slight decrease if nonmobilized Reserve and National Guard troops were included in the calculation." Bumiller notes, "Asked if he was frustrated by the jump last year in suicide by active-duty soldiers, General [Peter] Chiarelli said no." That resonse should tag Chiarelli and follow him around for the duration of his service. Anna Mulrine (Christian Science Monitor) covers the data and emphasizes what it found on self-medicating and the military's assertion that now they can deal with the problems (as opposed to looking the other way at other times). It'll be interesting to see in a year or so if, indeed, the military is helping service members get help or if, as has often been the case, they're just using self-medication as an excuse to drum them out of the service.

Also in the US, Feminist Majority Foundation issued the following today:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 20, 2010
Contact:
Francesca Tarant, 703.522.2214 media@feminist.org
Annie Shields, 310.556.2500, ashields@msmagazine.com
Statment of Eleanor Smeal On The Decision of Kathleen Sebelius and the Obama Administration Not to Broaden the Religious Exemption for Contraceptive Coverage
The Feminist Majority Foundation applauds the decision of Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services Secretary, and the Obama Administration not to broaden the religious exemption for contraceptive coverage under the Preventive Care package of the Affordable Care Act. This request, primarily by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, would have denied millions of American women contraceptive coverage, including students, teachers, nurses, social workers, and other staff (and their families) at religiously-connected or associated schools, universities, and hospitals, as well as institutions, such as Catholic Charities.
At last -- concern for women's health trumps pressure from the Catholic Bishops. Millions of women who may have been denied access to birth control with no co-pays or deductibles will now have full access. I am especially pleased that college students at religiously affiliated institutions will now have coverage for birth control without co-pays or deductibles under their school health plans beginning in Auust 2012.
Birth control is the number one prescription drug for women ages 18 to 44 years. Right now, the average woman has to pay $50 per month for 30 years for birth control. No wonder many low-income women have had to forgo regular use of birth control and half of US pregnancies are unplanned. This decision will help millions of women and their families.
Insurance plans that cover employers and employees must cover contraception with no co-pays or deductibles starting August 2012, and non-profit religious institutions under this new rule that do not currently cover contraception must do so with no co-pays or deductibles beginning August 2013. Moreover, student insurance plans at religiously affiliated universites must cover contraception with no co-pays or deductibles beginning August 212. Only women who work directly for a house of worship, such as for a church, synagogue, or mosque itself, are exempted from this required coverage.
Women's rights and pro-choice groups, including Feminist Majority Foundation, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the National Women's Law Center, the National Council of Jewish Women, the National Organization for Women (NOW), and NARAL Pro-Choice America, urged the Obama Administration not to consider the broader religious exemption.
In August, the US Departmentof Health and Human Services (HHS) announced new guidelines, developed by the Institute of Medicine, that will require private insurance plans under the Preventive Care packageofthe Affordable Care Act beginningon or after August 1, 2012 to cover without co-pays or deductibles as a variety of services, such as an annual well-woman visit and cancer screenings, counseling, such as for domestic and interpersonal violence, and testing for HIV and STIs, as well as all FDA-approved contraceptives, breastfeeding support, lactation service, and supplies.
###

Thug Nouri and Idiot Chris Hill

As the political crisis continues, Roy Gutman, Sahar Issa and Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) report:

Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's security services have locked up more than 1,000 members of other political parties over the past several months, detaining many of them in secret locations with no access to legal counsel and using "brutal torture" to extract confessions, his chief political rival has charged.
Ayad Allawi, the secular Shiite Muslim leader of the mainly Sunni Muslim Iraqiya bloc in parliament, who served as prime minister of the first Iraqi government after the Americans toppled Saddam Hussein, has laid out his allegations in written submissions to Iraq's supreme judicial council.

The reporters call the above "the second major broadside this week" and note: "London's Guardian newspaper reported Monday on an extortion racket involving Iraqi state security officials who systematically arrest people on trumped-up charges, torture them and then extort bribes from their families for their release." From the Guardian article by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad:

"Look," he added, "the system now is just like under Saddam: walk by the wall, don't go near politics and you can walk with your head high and not fear anything. But if you come close to the throne then the wrath of Allah will fall on you and we have eyes everywhere."
He described the arrest of the Sunni vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi's bodyguards who, it was claimed by the Shia-dominated government, had been paid by Hashimi to assassinate Shia officials. (Hashimi was on a plane heading to Kurdistan when government forces took over the airport, preventing him from leaving. After a standoff, he was allowed to fly but his men where detained.)
"Look what happened to the poor bodyguards of Hashimi, they were tortured for a week. They took them directly to our unit and they were interrogated severely. Even an old general was hanging from the ceiling. Do you know what I mean by hanging?"
In the constricted space of the car he pulled his arms up behind his back.
"They hang him like this. Sometimes they beat them with cables and sticks and sometimes they just leave them hanging from a metal fence for three days. They are torturing them trying to get them to confess to the bombing of the parliament."


Al Mada reported, yes, another secret prison run by Nouri. The Human Rights Committee in Parliament declared Wednesday that another secret prison ("Briagde 56") exists and it is run by Nouri (as were the others). They do not yet know the location of the prison.

And as if Iraq's not suffering enough, guess who's back?


The Pig-Pen Ambassador

That's Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Pig-Pen Ambassador" from April 5, 2009 and, yes, Chris Hill is back. Cue Jimi Hendrix' "Manic Depression."

I swear he surfaces (today at the Straits Times) just to make people appreciate that the US now has an adult in Baghdad (Ambassador James Jeffrey). He's so stupid. Reading his column is like sitting through his confirmation hearings all over again. And what's really sad is he's this stupid after being in Iraq for almost a year -- after representing the US in Iraq.

As with his confirmation hearings, he's weighing in on the state of Iraq . . . while ignoring the Kurds. He had no understanding of the Kurds and did more to harm the US relationship with the Kurds than we'll ever be known. Basically, he met with Nouri (when not napping or on a manic jag) and said, "Keep it up" -- to whatever Nouri was doing.

He is right that the US troop departure (of those that left) did not cause the political crisis. We already noted that weeks ago. But he does get that right.

He is wrong, no, excuse me. He is lying when he says it's not the US' fault. He's lying. There he's not wrong, he's flat out lying because he was part of the push to keep Nouri as prime minister. That is why the political crisis exists currently -- though Chris Hill continues to let Nouri skate away without blame. Chris Hill was a pathetic ambassador, he really was. Which is why he was replaced so quickly.

The US hardened the sect divide. He can't own up to that but he's not good at owning problems. He can lie. He's a world class liar. Here he is lying: "In preparation for the 2010 elections, the Sunnis set aside their internal differences and united under a single political party called Iraqiyya (the Iraqi National Movement). Of course, its organisers are loath to describe it as a Sunni party. Rather, it is described as a national party that invites people of all orientations to participate."

Ayad Allawi is the head of Iraqiya. Ayad Allawi is not Sunni. Chris Hill is a stupid liar who really needs to close his mouth. The next time he weighs in on Iraq, someone needs to ask him, "Gee, Hill, you were replaced faster than any other ambassador in the Obama administration. Why was that?" Because the US needed a functioning adult in Iraq.

He then wants you to know that Iraqiya won only two more seats than Nouri's State Of Law. And?

That's not two more votes. That's two more districts, that's a ton of votes. Each district voted for MPs.

Then he lies, "But Iraqiyya was unable to forge a government coalition; indeed, it failed to attract a single additional MP, let alone the 72 that would be necessary to control a 163-seat majority in the 325-seat legislature. Meanwhile, Maliki, with 89 seats, was able to reach out to other Shia parties and the Kurds, eventually assembling a 'national unity' government to gain a second term as prime minister."

Chris Hill is a damn liar. Iraqiya played by the rules. When Iraqiya was ready to form a government, they were hit by a ruling from Iraq's Supreme Court -- a ruling that caught everyone (but Nouri) by surprise because no one knew anything had been filed. Nouri had the Supreme Court (which he controls) 're-interpret' the Constitution allowing him first crack at forming a government.

Chris Hill's stupid so he could just be so stupid that he can't remember (one State Dept staffer who worked with him described Hill to me as having the flat affect of a stoner) but I think he remembers and he just wants to lie.

He did the US no good in Iraq. He destroyed everything Ryan Crocker had achieved. He failed to apply himself and, many days when he made it into work, the staff was confused as to why he bothered because he basically hid out in his office playing on the computer. James Jeffrey had a monumental task and I try to remember that when critiquing his performance. He wasn't taking a hand off from Crocker, he had to instead rebuild all that Hill had allowed to decay and wither.

I have no idea why anyone thinks Chris Hill is competent to discuss Iraq.

Were he compentent, he'd still be in the postion of US Ambassador to Iraq.

From April 20, 2009 to August 2010 -- one year and four months -- he was ambassador. He was replaced. There's a reason for his short term in the post. He was awful at it, he never understood the issues, he made a fool of himself in front of Congress (so much so that two senior Senators told the administration he was making a fool of the administration and that's when the White House finally moved to get Hill out of his post). But he gets to weigh in with his lies and be considered a reliable source? Heaven help us all.




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


























Military suicides and other issues

Yesterday morning, we noted: "Most veterans, whether they suffer from PTSD or not, are not going to harm themselves or others violently. (They may be far more likely to harm themselves via self-medication over the long run if the VA fails to provide the help needed.) And not to dismiss or minimize the concerns or crimes that have taken place recently, but someone harming, at this point, physically harming, is still more likely to turn that inward and self-harm." We noted that because it's true. But we also noted a violent incident because it was true as well. Veteran Ron Capps (Time magazine) attacks the media (specifically the Christian Science Monitor and CNN -- though both are building on regional coverage) for reporting on it. Fine. Hold the media accountable and do it in whatever 'tone' you're comfortable with. But here's a little tip you'd be smart to file away: Time magazine is not a personal journal.

Meaning if the perception of your writing is that you write only to defend yourself, no one's going to give a damn and it's going to turn into, "Oh, there goes Ron Capps, talking about himself again." In other words, if you're going to post at Time, there are plenty of veterans issues to cover and you might try stepping beyond what appears to be your own self-interest about the way you're treated, you might try being about something larger. A far more solid use of the space today (at an outlet that is not known for offering any media criticism) would have been for you to cover Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's announcement this week regarding sexual assault in the military or the burn pits symposium next month at Stony Brook (details later in this entry). Covering topics like that and reducing the critique of CNN and the Christian Science Monitor to a two sentence put-down would be more effective for a piece running at Time magazine. By pursuing the presentation Capps goes with risks readers walking away with, "What a self-involved hot-head." Which really doesn't refute the image he's decrying. (The style is fine for Veterans Today -- it would have to be angrier or more sarcastic for this space -- but for Time it's all wrong. Time's not Newsweek, it still makes some effort at journalistic detachment and objectivity. And that may be one of the reasons that Time, unlike Newsweek, still has a significant number of readers.)


The suicide rate is a big deal in the morning e-mails. First, any article telling you that suicides are down among veterans was written by someone either stupid or lying. The numbers are not there to make any comparison on veterans. The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee has had to spend years advocating for the VA to track that and those numbers will only start emerging. There's no number set from the past they can compare them to.

Second, it's not "down." The rate among service members is not down. In the total pool (which would include reserves), it has leveled off. Leveled off is not "down" in any significant sense of the term. Elisabeth Bumiller (New York Times) handles the data best, "Suicides among active-duty soldiers hit another record high in 2011, Army officials said on Thursday, although there was a slight decrease if nonmobilized Reserve and National Guard troops were included in the calculation." If active duty suicides have actually increased, why are so many headlines ignoring that and instead going with leveled off or (worse and wrong) "drops"?

Look no further than Larry Shaughnessy (CNN) which runs with Gen Peter Chiarelli's claims. Another bad 'report' would be Julian E. Barnes' for the Wall St. Journal which opens with, "The Army believes it has halted the rise of suicide in its ranks, saying that improved treatment of brain injuries and post-traumatic stress has helped stem years of increases." But active duty did increase, Barnes. And you can bury that in the body of the report ("Active duty suicides rose slightly last year, but the increase was offset by declines in the reserves") but that doesn't change the fact that it rose. Nor does it change the fact that the rate of suicide is higher in the military than in civilian life. Point being, it is unacceptable. It has been unacceptable. 'Leveling off' -- even if that's your emphasis -- is no 'good news.' The rate is too high and it's obviously not being dealt with appropriately since it continues to be high.

Bumiller reports, "Asked if he was frustrated by the jump last year in suicide by active-duty soldiers, General Chiarelli said no." I'm frustrated by Chiarelli's lack of frustration. And I can't believe he said "no" to that. I believe it, I'm not accusing Bumiller of making that up. I just am shocked at how stupid he was to have made that remark, you're in James Watt land when you make that remark, something no official should want or seek. (Watt was Secretary of the Interior under Reagan -- first term -- and prone to stupid remarks such as his attack on the Beach Boys as promoters of drug usage.) The CNN report contains a quote of Chiarelli's in full but the quote doesn't really alter anything. If you're tasked with reducing suicide, you're always bothered and concerned by the rate. That's a given for the job.

In other veterans news, Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and her office notes:

For Immediate Release
January 19, 2012
Contact:
Murray: 202-224-2834
Filner: 202-225-9756


Murray, Filner Request GAO Review of VA's Sterilization of Reusable Medical Equipment Policies and Procedures

(Washington, D.C.) -- Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and Congressman Bob Filner (D-CA) sent a letter to Government Accountability Office (GAO) Comptroller Gene Dodaro expressing concern over reports of shortcomings in the sterilization of reusable medical equipment. In the letter, they urge the GAO to investigate whether VA's leadership is taking appropriate actions to address these problems across the system.

"On numerous occasions, VA has reported to Congress about the various investigations it has conducted and the problems these investigations have identified, which they claim have led to the development of new processes and procedures to reduce the risk of these problems reoccurring," Senator Murray and Congressman Filner said in the letter. "However, we continue to hear about the same types of quality of care incidents at VA medical facilities and we are concerned that this is an indication that VA is not effectively learning from these incidents and subsequently translating those lessons into system-wide improvements."
The full text of the letter follows:

January 19, 2012



The Honorable Gene L. Dodaro

Comptroller General of the United States

Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20548

Dear Mr. Dodaro:

We know of repeated quality of care problems throughout the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system. Some of these problems, such as shortcomings in the sterilization of reusable medical equipment, reoccur with unacceptable frequency. This raises concerns as to whether VA's leadership is taking appropriate actions, including the appropriate disciplinary actions, to effectively address the problems across the system. On numerous occasions, VA has reported to Congress about the various investigations it has conducted and the problems these investigations have identified, which they claim have led to the development of new processes and procedures to reduce the risk of these problems from reoccurring. However, we continue to hear about the same types of quality of care incidents at VA medical facilities and we are concerned that this is an indication that VA is not effectively learning from these incidents and subsequently translating those lessons into system-wide improvements.

Therefore, we request that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct a review of VA's processes and procedures for responding to quality of care incidents that occur within its health care system. Specifically, we request that GAO review the following:

1. What processes and procedures does VA use to respond to quality of care incidents that occur at its medical facilities, including quality assurance reviews and disciplinary actions? To what extent do these processes and procedures compliment and inform each other? What, if any, gaps or inconsistencies exist?

2. How does VA determine which processes and procedures to use to respond to quality of care incidents? What factors contribute to why certain processes and procedures are chosen by VA over others?

3. What challenges, if any, do VA staff face when using these processes and procedures?

4. To what extent are the processes and procedures carried out consistently across VA's health care system?

5. What data, if any, does VA systematically collect with regard to its employees' involvement in quality of care incidents, including clinicians and others? How, if at all, are these data trended and analyzed? To what extent are these data used to determine what actions to take in response to these incidents?

6. To what extent does VA use the data to identify opportunities for system-wide quality improvement?


As a follow-on to the above work, we also request that GAO perform an in-depth assessment of the extent to which VA medical facilities follow the processes and procedures used to respond to quality of care incidents.

Thank you for your work to improve the care and services our veterans receive. We look forward to reviewing your findings.

Sincerely,


PATTY MURRAY
Chairman Ranking Democratic Member
Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs


BOB FILNER
Ranking Democratic Member
House Committee on Veterans Affairs
###



The following community sites -- plus Susan's On The Edge, the Guardian and Antiwar.com -- updated last night and this morning:




Next month is the first ever scientific symposium on Burn Pits:


1st Annual Scientific Symposium on
Lung Health after Deplyoment to Iraq & Afghanistan
February 13, 2012

sponsored by
Office of Continuing Medical Education
School of Medicine
Stony Brook University

Location
Health Sciences Center, Level 3, Lecture Hall 5
Anthony M. Szema, M.D., Program Chair
Stony Brook
University
Medical Center


This program is made possible by support from the
Sergeant Thomas Joseph Sullivan Center, Washington, D.C.


2 WAYS TO REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE

* Register with your credit card online at:
http://www.stonybrookmedicalcenter.org/education/cme.cfm

* Download the registration form from:
fax form to (631) 638-1211

For Information Email:
cmeoffice@stonybrook.edu


1st Annual Scientific Symposium on
Lung Health after Deployment to Iraq & Afghanistan
Monday, February 13, 2012
Health Sciences Center
Level 3, Lecture Hall 5

Program Objective: Upon completion, participants should be able to recognize new-onset of lung disease after deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.

8:00 - 9:00 a.m. Registration & Continental Breakfast (Honored Guest, Congressman
Tim Bishop

9:00 - 9:30 Peter Sullivan, J.D., Father of Marine from The Sergeant Thomas Joseph
Sullivan Center, Washington, D.C.

9:40 - 10:10 Overview of Exposures in Iraq, Anthony Szema, M.D., (Assistant
Professor of Medicine and Surgery, Stony Brook University)

10:10 - 10:40 Constrictive Bronchiolitis among Soldiers after Deployment, Matt
King, M.D. (Assistant Professor of Medicine, Meharry Medical College,
Nashville, TN)

10:40 - 11:10 BREAK

11:10 - 11:40 Denver Working Group Recommendations and Spirometry Study in
Iraq/Afghanistan, Richard Meehan, M.D., (Chief of Rheumatology and
Professor of Medicine, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO)

11:40 a.m. - Microbiological Analyses of Dust from Iraq and Afghanistan, Captain Mark

12:10 p.m. Lyles, D.M.D., Ph. D., (Vice Admiral Joel T. Boone Endowed Chair of
Health and Security Studies, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, RI)

12:10 - 12:20 Health Care Resource Utilization among Deployed Veterans at the White
River Junction VA, James Geiling, M.D., (Professor and Chief of Medicine,
Dartmouth Medical School, VA White River Junction, VT)

12:20 - 1:20 LUNCH AND EXHIBITS
Graduate students Millicent Schmidt and Andrea Harrington (Stony Brook
University) present Posters from Lung Studies Analyzed for Spatial
Resolution of Metals at Brookhaven National Laboratory's National
Synchrotron Light Source

1:20 - 1:40 Epidemiologic Survey Instrument on Exposures in Iraq and Afghanistan,
Joseph Abraham, Sc.D., Ph.D., (U.S. Army Public Health Command,
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD)

1:40 - 2:10 Overview of the Issue Raised during Roundtable on Pulmonary Issues
and Deployment, Coleen Baird, M.D., M.P.H., (Program Manager
Environmental Medicine, U.S. Army Public Health Command)

2:10 - 2: 40 Reactive Oxygen Species from Iraqi Dust, Martin Schoonen, Ph.D.
(Director Sustainability Studies and Professor of Geochemistry, Stony
Brook University)

2:40 - 2:50 BREAK

2:50 - 3:15 Dust Wind Tunnel Studies, Terrence Sobecki, Ph.D. (Chief Environmental
Studies Branch, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research
and Engineering Laboratory, Manchester, NH)

3:15 - 3:45 Toxicologically Relevant Characteristics of Desert Dust and Other
Atmospheric Particulate Matter, Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Ph.D. (Research
Geochemist, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO)

3:44 - 4:15 In-situ Mineralogy of the Lung and Lymph Nodes, Gregory Meeker, M.S.
(Research Geochemist, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO)


Continuing Medical Education Credits

The school of Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook, is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The School of Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brooke designates this live activity for a maximum of 6 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM. Physicians should only claim the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.



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