| Thursday, September 8, 2011. Chaos and violence continue, Iraq remains unsecure, Iraq is at risk of panademic, more on the US desire to stay in Iraq beyond 2011, Tom Hayden shows up to self-embarrass yet again, journalist Hadi al-Mahdi is assassinated, and more. In Iraq, a journalist has been murdered. In addition to being a journalist, he was also a leader of change and part of the movement to create an Iraq that was responsive to Iraqis. Al Mada reports Iraqi journalist Hadi al-Mahdi is dead according to an Interior Ministry source who says police discovered him murdered in his Baghdad home. Along with being a journalist, Al Mada notes he was one of the chief organizers of the demonstrations demanding change and service reform that began on February 25th -- the day he was arrested by Iraqi security forces and beaten in broad daylight as he and others, after the February 25th protest, were eating in a restaurant. The New York Times didn't want to tell you about, the Washington Post did. And now the man is dead. Gee, which paper has the archives that matter to any real degree. Maybe it's time to act like a newspaper and not a "news magazine" with pithy little human interest stories? (That is not a dig at Tim Arango but at the paper's diva male 'reporter' who went on NPR to talk of an Iraqi college this week.) So while the Times missed the story (actaully, they misled on the story -- cowtowing to Nouri as usual), Stephanie McCrummen (Washington Post) reported: Four journalists who had been released described being rounded up well after they had left a protest at Baghdad's Tahrir Square. They said they were handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and threatened with execution by soldiers from an army intelligence unit. "It was like they were dealing with a bunch of al-Qaeda operatives, not a group of journalists," said Hussam al-Ssairi, a journalist and poet, who was among a group and described seeing hundreds of protesters in black hoods at the detention facility. "Yesterday was like a test, like a picture of the new democracy in Iraq." A picture of the new democracy in Iraq, indeed. And now one of the four is dead. But back to that roundup, from the February 28th snapshot: Over the weekend, a number of journalists were detained during and after their coverage of the mass demonstrations that took place in central Baghdad's al-Tahrir Square. Simone Vecchiator (International Press Institute) notes:
["]During a news conference held on Sunday, four journalists -- Hussam Saraie of Al-Sabah Al-Jadid newspaper, Ali Abdul Sada of the Al-Mada daily, Ali al-Mussawi of Sabah newspaper and Hadi al-Mehdi of Demozee radio -- reported being handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and threatened by security forces. They also claimed they were held in custody for nine hours and forced to sign a document, the contents of which were not revealed to them.
Aswat al Iraq news agency reported that the journalists will file a court case against the executive authority in response to the alleged violations of their civil rights.
This episode is the latest in a series of repressive measures adopted by security forces in order to stifle media reports about the current political and social unrest.["] NPR's Kelly McEvers interviewed Hadi for Morning Edition after he had been released and she noted he had been "beaten in the leg, eyes, and head." He explained that he was accused of attempting to "topple" Nouri al-Maliki's government -- accused by the soldiers under Nouri al-Maliki, the soldiers who beat him. Excerpt: Hadi al-Mahdi: I replied, I told the guy who was investigating me, I'm pretty sure that your brother is unemployed and the street in your area is unpaved and you know that this political regime is a very corrupt one. Kelly McEvers: Mahdi was later put in a room with what he says were about 200 detainees, some of them journalists and intellectuals, many of them young protesters. Hadi al-Mahdi: I started hearing voices of other people. So, for instance, one guy was crying, another was saying, "Where's my brother?" And a third one was saying, "For the sake of God, help me." Kelly McEvers: Mahdi was shown lists of names and asked to reveal people's addresses. He was forced to sign documents while blindfolded. Eventually he was released. Mahdi says the experience was worse than the times he was detained under Saddam Hussein. He says the regime that's taken Sadam's place is no improvement on the past. This, he says, should serve as a cautionary tale for other Arab countries trying to oust dictators. Hadi al-Mahdi: They toppled the regime, but they brought the worst -- they brought a bunch of thieves, thugs, killers and corrupt people, stealers. Madhi had filed a complained with the courts against the Iraqi security forces, noting that they had now warrant and that they kidnapped him in broad daylight and that they beat him. Mohamed Tawfeeq (CNN) adds, "Hadi al-Mehdi was inside his apartment on Abu Nawas street in central Baghdad when gunmen shot him twice with silencer-equipped pistols, said the ministry official, who did not want to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to media." Mazin Yahya (AP) notes that in addition to calling for improvements in the basic services (electricity, water and sanitation), on his radio program, Hadi al-Mehdi also used Facebook to get the word out on the Friday protests in Baghdad's Tahrir Square. Al Mada notes that Hadi has been killed on the eve of tomorrow's protest. The youth activists took the month of Ramadan off and announced that they would return to downtown Baghdad on September 9th (tomorrow). And tomorrow they'll now be minus at least one. Al Mada quotes Hadi writing shortly before he died on his Facebook page about the demonstration, noting that it would herald the emergence of real democracy in the new Iraq, an Iraq with no sectarian grudges, just hearts filled with tolerance and love, hearts saying no to corruption, looting, unemployment, hearts demaning a better Iraq and a government for the people because Iraqis deserve the best and they deserve pride and dignity. The Great Iraqi Revolution notes, "The funeral of the martyred jouranlist Hady Mahdy, who was killed earlier today will process from his Karrad home where he was assassinated to Tahrir Square. The funeral procession will commence at around 9 A.M." Reporters Without Borders roundly condemns the well-known journalist Hadi Al-Mahdi's murder in Baghdad today, on the eve of nationwide protests that he supported. His body was found at around 7 p.m. in his home in the central district of Al-Karada. He had been shot twice in the head. There can be no doubt that his murder was politically motivated. Offering its sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues, Reporters Without Borders urges the authorities to quickly investigate this murder and to assign all the necessary resources to ensure that those responsible are identified and brought to justice. This crime cannot go unpunished. Aged 44, a Shiite and married to a Kurd, Mahdi hosted a talk show called "To whoever listens" on Radio Demozy (104,01 FM). His irreverence, his well-observed criticism that spared no one, neither the prime minister nor his detractors, and his readiness to tackle subjects ranging from corruption to the deplorable state of the Iraqi educational system made it one of the most popular talk shows in Baghdad. It was clear from the messages that Mahdi had sent to relatives that he knew he was in danger. He had received many warnings and had told friends two days ago that something terrible could happen (http://alalemya.com/alalemya_news/0_2011_5_/11_/11_9_1/8-9/hadi-al-mahdi.html). But he was determined to tough it out, regardless of the risks. After covering a demonstration in Baghdad's Tahrir Square on 25 February, he and three fellow journalists were arrested, threatened and beaten. Shortly after graduating from Baghdad's Academy of Fine Arts in 1989, Mahdi fled to Syria and then to Sweden and did not return until 2007, after nearly a decade in exile. He began hosting "To whoever listens" for Radio Demozy, an independent station, a year later. (A New York Times profile of Mahdi) He was the seventh Iraqi journalist to be murdered since the start of 2011 and the 12th since the United States announced the withdrawal of its combat troops in August 2010. Mahdi's murder comes exactly a month after the Iraqi parliament adopted a law on the protection of journalists on 9 August. Nouri al-Maliki's forces beat Hadi. They are under Nouri's command. Nouri demonized the protesters all along. He has repeated the slurs in the last weeks that the September 9th protests are organized by Ba'ahtists, are out to topple him, are out to turn Iraq into a lawless state and much more. Did Little Saddam aka Nouri al-Maliki, thug of the occupation, order his forces to murder Hadi? Regardless, he certainly created the climate for the murder at the very least. At the more extreme? Little Saddam may be dreaming of becoming the next Augusto Pinochet. Hadi had a dream that Iraq could become what so many in the US press portrayed it as being, a democracy, a place of fairness, a government that provided for the people. The youth activists will carry on the struggle, as will be evident tomorrow, but it says a great deal about the stae of Iraq, he real state of Iraq, that Hadi can be targeted and murdered for wanting what so many US gas bags and US politicians and liars wnat to insist Iraq already has and is. Let's turn to two of the whores: Tom Hayden and Barbara Lee. Take your tongues out of Barack's asshole and come on down. In all the years (decades) I've known Tom, I'd say he's verbal. He's not active. He's really not much of a writer, never has been. But he can give a speech. Ususally one that self-promotes. I think it was a few months before he was expelled from the Berkeley commune that I first heard him compared to J.J. Hunsecker -- an apt comparison, I used to think. But J.J. knew how to read and, increasingly, it appears Tom-Tom is illiterate. Two days to late and still unaware, Tom Hayden shows up at The Nation to flaunt both his own uselessness and Barbara Lee's. If you're late to the party, see Tuesday and Wednesday's snapshots, my willingness to spoonfeed today is extremely limited. Tom just discovered about the story Fox News reported on -- about an option where the White House would keep 3,000 to 4,000 US troops in Iraq. Yes, let's split whores, let's go to Barbara Lee from Tom's story and then come back to Tom. Baraba doesn't read either -- illiteracy appears to be a pre-requisite for membership in the Cult of St. Barack. So when Tom called his girlfriend Barbara Lee to dish about wet dreaming of Barack and mentioned the fact that the White House is considering keeping 3,000 to 4,000 US troops in Iraq after 2011, 'anti-war' Barbara Lee insisted it was "a move in the right direction." Oh, how the whores have fallen. Baraba Leeis a fraud. She's a fraud and a fake. When I used to say that, people would offer defenses. These days the only defense comes from the Cult of St. Barack. They are the only ones stupid enough to defend 'brave' Barbara Lee. Everyone else long ago caught on to the reality that Little Ms. I'll End The Iraq War gave up long, long ago. I can remember so many Congressional hearings how she'd dash in when the cameras were there, spit out a few commentaries masquerading as questions, announce with disgust that she had nothing else for the witness and rush off to whever it was she rushed off to (not to floor votes, not to another hearing). She'd get her media attention, her sound byte for back home, and she'd breeze off somewhere else. Bush was occupying the White House then. So Baraba was against the war. The same war that today she's fine with because Barack's president. She doesn't try to end the Iraq War now. She doesn't give the speeches about how we need to put pressure on the leadership. She doesn't do a damn thing. And nothing I'm saying here is news to the Out of Iraq Caucus in the House. In fact, most members cite Baraba Lee as the reason that caucus is no more. She's a liar and a hypocrite and nothing I could call her here would match what she's called by her peers in Congress whom she once stood with against the wars. Leaving any US troops beyond 2011 should be unacceptable to her. But it's Barack so she's saying "step in the right direction." You go, 'brave' Barabra. And she'll no doubt pen a strongly worded letter to him calling for more to leave and then do nothing after he blows her off. Because standing up to Bush was fun but she's not going to call out Barack. Moving from the fraud in Congress back to the fraud that never gets anywhere, Tom's a ___ idiot. Again, check those two snapshots. The 3,000 to 4,000 is one option -- one of several the White House is considering. We've noted several here throughout the year -- one we noted repeatedly is today an "AP Exclusive" -- but those following the actual reporting, those doing their own reading, were aware that there were several options. Tom isn't because there's no whore like an old whore. (Tom was not the friend at The Nation that I spoke to Thursday -- mentioned in Thursday's snapshot -- but doesn't he prove my point in that snapshot that no one at The Nation actually reads? And Tom's not a friend. A friend is someone I'd invite to my home and I really don't associate with gigolos and certainly don't invite them into my home -- both due to theft concerns and infestation issues.) 3,000 is one option, it's not the only option. In fact, if you learned to read Arabic, you'd know what Nouri's media advisor said about it. But you don't know because you apparently can't read. If only you couldn't speak imagine how much better the world would be. As usual, the faux leader of the peace movement -- who knew the peace movement had an elderly Gypsy Rose Lee in it? -- wants to call this a win. And wants to caution that people can't ask for more because, he insists, the economy is the number one issue and blah, blah, blah. Old Pock Marks On The Soul really needs to go the way of other divorcees who cashed out big time on their wealthy exes when making a living on their own proved too difficult. He's Roxanne Pulitzer without the ability to write trash (he's just able to live it) and without a body anyone would pay to see naked. Kevin Barone (Stars & Stripes) quotes the former top US commander in Iraq who is now the Army Chief of Staff, Ray Odierno stating today of the 3,000 proposal, "I will say, when I was leaving Iraq a year ago, I always felt we had to be careful about leaving too many people in Iraq. I'm not saying 3,000 to 5,000 is the right number, but what I would say is there comes a time, and I've said this before, where it becomes counterproductive," He goes on to also disagree with the notion of leaving a large force. Which is probably due in part to the fact that he's been among those advocating within the administration for 20,000 to 12,000 US forces to remain on the ground in Iraq beyond 2011. Dar Addustour reports that Haitham Jubouri, who serves on the Commission on Defense and Security, was among those receiving a withdrawal time table for US forces. It's not one thing, it's several options, the paper says, and that it was stressed there is no final decision as yet. The article then notes US media reports on this issue in the last two days -- emphasizing the 3,000 to 4,000 US troops kept beyond 2011 option -- and that while the negotiations continue, there's a sense of urgency when it comes to the US supplying F-16s to Iraq. Al Mada also notes US media reports and adds that Nouri al-Maliki's media advisor Ali al-Moussawi has declared that the numbers are not ones Iraq has proposed or agreed to. Justin Fishel (Fox News) notes Odierno declared that one of the issues to be resolved in the negotiations would be where US troops would be staged after 2011 and "Odierno said it's most likely that any major U.S. base would be located outside of Baghdad." There are many options being considered. Robert Burns and Rebecca Santana (AP) report on the option of moving US troops to Kuwait. They cite annonymous "US officials" who state that Kuwait is being considered as a staging area for the US military and that it could also be used to keep "a small U.S. combat force" that could enter Iraq swiftly should a problem arise. And they note that US military equipment could be left in Kuwai instead of sent back to America. We've covered that option repeatedly because it's Joe Biden's option. Joe was then US Senator and not US Vice President. It was 2007 when he began to seriously speak of it. It was 2008, two months after he dropped out of the Democratic primaries, that he raised the issue for the first time seriously in public. When it became clear, during the transition period as Samantha Power insisted US troops would not leave Iraq, that post-2011 plans might need to be considered, Joe brought this idea out. Barack was responsive to it from the start and one reporter (not mentioned above but he'll know who he is) was cited as having proposed it to Barack during a 2008 interview. (Barack was giddy at the suggestion and noted that ___ had suggested it mere months ago.) Hillary Clinton was not part of the transition team. After Barack was in the White House and after he nominated her for Secretary of State and she became part of the administration, she supported this as an option to explore in at least one meeting. This much is clear: There will likely be some kind of U.S. military presence in Iraq after 2012. Again, 3,000 is only one of the proposals being considered. It was the proposal discussed yesterday on On The Record (Fox News -- link has text and video) by host Greta Van Susteren and Herman Cain who is running for the GOP's presidential nomination:
VAN SUSTEREN: So I'm not going to ask you about that, so let me ask you about foreign policy since it was a little bit short on foreign policy. The big issue is whether or not the president is going to draw down to 3,000 troops in Iraq. What do you think about that idea if indeed that is the president's plan?
CAIN: I believe that's a bad idea, Greta. Once again, this president did not listen to the expanders on the ground. The commanders on the ground do not agree with that, just like the commanders on the ground didn't agree with the drawdown in Afghanistan. That's very scary in terms of foreign policy and our position in the world. So I don't agree with it. Why? Because the commanders on the ground don't agree with it. They believe it is too much, too fast. And I believe it is going to leave the 3,000 there vulnerable.
VAN SUSTEREN: That's what I don't understand. It seems to me -- I really can't believe the president isn't listening to his commanders. I'm a little suspicious there are commanders telling him 3,000 is fine. Is there any reason why you think, if it is true, that he doesn't have any commanders support him, why would he go ahead and do this, just sort of freelancing without consulting commanders?
CAIN: Two reasons, in my opinion. One, to carry out a campaign programs, and secondly to create a distraction. This president has nothing to talk about in terms of his record on the economy, zero new jobs created. They are trying to get away from that. So if he -- if next year he can say we have pulled out all of the troops out of Iraq, then that will give him something to brag about, along with the taking out of Usama bin Laden. The American people are not that stupid.
Herman Cain is for continuing the war but he is running for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. He is a Republican. In 2006, that would be obvious. In 2011, when so many Democratic office holders are fine and dandy with the illegal war continuing and a Democratic president attempts to continue it, it may need clarification that Herman Cain is not a Democrat. On the Democratic Party side, only Barack at present is running for the White House. On the Republican side, there are many. Ron Paul is the only candidate in that race invited to the debates who is promising to end the wars. Al Rafidayn reports on a doctor's funeral Monday in Kirkuk -- Dr. Yildirim Abbas Dmarja and his brother -- in a killing that is part of a wave of targeting doctors and other professionals in Iraq. This targeting also includes kidnappings. The Director General of Health in Kirkuk is leading a call for the government to provide protection for doctors. It is estimated that over a million and a half dollars (US equivalent) have been paid by families to kidnappers of doctors. Al Sabaah notes that Wednesday also saw a sit-in at a Kirkuk hospital as doctors and medical staff demanded protection from the ongoing violence. They also demanded that those responsible be brought to justice. There's a medical issue taking place in Iraq beyond this and a friend with WHO brought it to my attention last week: the flu. Al Sabbah reports that Iraq's seen 175 cases of the flu since the start of the year with 15 people dying so far. The paper notes that 88 of the cases have been in Baghdad alone. The paper does not note that some of these have been Swine flu and some have been bird flu. In 2006, neighboring Turkey saw an outbreak of bird flu (avian flu) which resulted in the deaths of at least four children. In April 2009, a teenage girl died of bird flu in the KRG's Sulaimaniyah, hers was the first documented case bird flu in Iraq. In addition, Al Sabbah notes that Salah Din Province is dealing with viral hemorrhagic fever. Attempts to comabt it include an awareness campaign targeting everyone from children in kindergarten through adults as well as by increasing inspections of fields with livetock, of livestock and of vendors selling meat. They are warning people not to purchase meat from street vendors. The Center for Disease Control explains that humans are not the natural hosts for viral hemorrhagic fever and that the "viruses naturally reside in an animal reservoir host or antrhopod vector. They are totally dependent on their hosts for replication and overall survival. For the most part, rodents and anthropods are the main reservoirs for viruses causing VHFs. The multimammate rat, cotton rat, deer mouse, house mouse and other field rodents are examples of reservoir hosts. Arthropod ticks and mosquitoes serve as vectors for some of the illnesses. [. . .] The viruses carried in rodent reservoirs are tract with urine, fecal matter, saliva, or other body excretions from infected rodents. The viruses associated with anthropod vectors are spread most often when a vector mosquito or tick bites a human, or when a human crushes a tick. However, some of these vectors may spread virus to animals, livestock, for example. Humans then become infected when they care for or slaughter their animals." The CDC notes that once a person is infected with viral hemorrhagic fever, it is possible for the disease to jump from the infected person to another person. Why are we noting this? Because a friend raised the issue, yes. But also because Iraqis are suffering and at risk and because Iraq doesn't need to turn into a hot zone that then quickly spreads diseases throughout the world (remember that foreigners in Iraq include people from all over the world including the United States). We note it because of tomorrow's protest. Iraqis are calling for decent, livable public services. They don't have adequate sanitation. Children in Baghdad -- orphans on the street and just average children as well -- are confronted with garbage, sometimes play on it. Garbage piled up in the street. Not taken away. Just piled up there attracting children who will look for things to climb ecause that's what children do, they explore their surroundings and play. It will also attract bugs and rodents. The Iraqi people are very fortunate that the failure of the government has not yet resulted in a pandemic. But as long as the government refuses to address the issues of sewage and sanitation, Iraqis are at risk of a pandemic at any moment. Nouri's been prime minister since 2006. The Iraqi government takes in billions in oil dollars every year. There's no excuse for the failure to address and solve this issue. It puts Iraqis and the entire region at grave risk. Should a pandemic break out, it will not be confined to Iraq and it will not be confined to the Middle East. While feathering his own nest with Iraqi money, Nouri is a slum lord, one of the world's biggest slum lords, who refuses to address the health and safety of the Iraqi people. The US government is not going to do a damn thing about it. All they're focused on is extending the US military presence in Iraq. Maybe the neighboring countries can pressure Nouri? Certainly if a pandemic breaks out in Iraq, then Turkey, Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria will be among the first countries effected. The protesters demands in Iraq have never been unreasonable. They're very basic. Improve the public services (water and electricity and sanitation), provide jobs, end the government corruption and stop the sinkhole that is the Iraqi prison-judicial system where families never even know if their loved one was arrested, let alone if he or she remains alive. These are very basic issues. That they're demands goes to just how corrupt the government in Iraq is, that anyone would have to demand these basic needs be met goes to just how corrupt it is. That's what the protesters have been protesting for months now. And it's telling that the likes of Tom Hayden and Barbara Lee have shown no interest in the needs of Iraqis. They've not spoken out,t hey've not written of it. They've washed their hands and only show up on the topic of Iraq when it's time to excuse Barack's latest back-stab. I didn't know Hadi al-Mehdi. I never met him, I never spoke to him on the phone. We did exchange e-mails when he was kind enough to correct me on an issue I had wrong (not the first time I was wrong,, not the last time I will be). And I'm no expert on himbut what came through in the four or five e-mails was just how much he believed that the better Iraq the people deserved was possible. And yet he and what he believed in is invisible in the US and ignored by so many 'voices' for 'peace' who should have been drawing attention to the protests in Iraq. Instead, they were ignored. (Antiwar.com and Antiwar Radio is the only antiwar outlet that covered them.) (Excuse me, Democracy Now! covered them badly in one segment. Congratulations, Amy Goodman.) Haid al-Mehdi's dead but there are others who share the dream he had and they'll carry on the fight for a better Iraq. But they'll do so with less and less attention from the US 'peace' groups. Why/ Because a Democrat's in the White House. So now Democrats are as embarrssing as Republicans were when they repeatedly tried to sell "success" in Iraq. They sold it for their man Bush. Democrats now sell it for their man Barack. Hero worship never built a peace movement. Real leaders -- Ghandi, MLK, etc -- rejected hero worship. I think it was with Abeer that it became very clear that the Democratic pretense of caring about Iraqis was revealed to be pure lies. When 14-year-old Abeer was gang-raped by US soldiers while one US soldier murdered her five-year-old sister, murdered her parents and then murdered her, set her body on fire to try to destroy the evidence, when all this came out, when the Article 32 heairng was held, when the court martials were held, when Steven D. Green's trial was held in Kentucky, where was The Progressive, where was The Nation, where was In These Times, where was Democracy Now? Silent. Alexander Cockburn did write a few paragraphs about it ione column -- I'll credit his CounterPunch for that, not The Nation. After months of complaints and public shaming, feminist or 'feminist' Katha Pollitt finally found time to write about Abeer in a half-sentence. But would she have if I hadn't made fat jokes about her here and her friends hadn't begged me to remove those jokes and I hadn't agreed to? If that had happened would Katha have ever written even that half-sententce about Abeer? Judging by all that's gone down since, I doubt it. Pay attention, if you need to motivate Katha to 'cover' an issue,aim some fat jokes her way. It's the only thing that will get her off her, yes, fat ass. I'm just not in the mood for the liars and the whores these days. It's not just that their whoring for Barack means that the Iraq War does not end. It's also that their whoring means that Iraqis suffer in every way imaginable including suffering in silence because exposing the realities of Iraq might harm Barack's election chances. And aren't the dreams and desires of a vain man withe ating disorders so much more important than twenty-five to thirty Iraqi people? Isn't it more important to secure that second term for Barack to continue the wars and continue Guantanamo and destroy Social Security (and the economy) than the Iraqi people ever having any peace? You can speak in soothing tones about how you objected to the sanctions in the 90s all you want. Until you're ready to call out the War Hawk Barack, you're just another whore promoting war and destruction. Reuters notes a man shopping in Mosul was shot dead and a Mosul bombing injured one Iraqi soldier. Meanwhile, northern Iraq is being bombed and shelled by the armies of two countries: Iran and Turkey. Iran is allegedly targeting the PJAK (Kurdish rebels fighting for independence with Iran) and Turkey is allegedly targeting the PKK (Kurdish rebels fighting for independence in Turkey). In the meantime, both are killing and wounding civilians and tearing up the region from which people are fleeing -- farmers and shepherds especially -- due to the non-stop bombings. Aswat al-Iraq reports that "hundreds" demonstrated in Erbil yesterday against the continued attacks from both countries and that "demonstrators raised the Kurdish flags and photos of the victims of Turkish-Iranian bombardments, that led to the killing of a complete family." Alsumaria TV reports, "Anti Iranian Kurdish party, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), said that the Iranian shelling has killed its deputy military leader and announced that its fighters killed 123 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards during clashes between the two parties this month." In protest of the bombings, Aswat al-Iraq reports, Iraq's Parliament today suspended their "session for half an hour" at the request of Parliament's Kurdish coalition. "I remember Baha all the time," Daoud Mousa tells BCC News (link is video). "I look He's -- Baha -- in my heart. I love Baha. He's good son." His 26-year-old son was tortured and killed by the british military, receiving over 93 documented wounds in less than 48 hours. The white wash was released today and there's not space to cover it and I don't have the energy, I'm sorry. We covered it this morning here and I'll try to grab it in tomorrow's snapshot. Justice was not done and hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to note Iraqi reaction -- at present there's nothing but Al Jazeera predicting what reaction will be to the findings from the inquiry into Baha's death (a 'few bad apples' went off the reservation is the cover story). | 
