Monday, March 4, 2013. Chaos and violence continue,
Reuters
plays the fool, February saw no reduction of violent deaths, Nouri sicks
the military on protesters, raids take place in Samarra, an inquiry
hears abuse allegations, and more.
Yesterday at Third, we addressed the gross stupidity (or laid back lying) of
Reuters which published stenography. 136 Iraqis died in Iraq last month said the Iraqi government ministries.
Reuters could
have kept their own count but that would require work. They could have
compared the official count to Iraq Body Count but that would have
required thought. So they just spat out what they were handed and
pretended that was reporting.
February 3rd, Sofia News Agency at least 30 dead.
February 4th, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported 23 dead,
February 8, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported at least 26 dead.
February 16th, we noted 18 dead.
February 17th, AP reported at least 37 dead.
February 28th, AP reported at least 22 dead. Now forget that, for example, the 37 dead February 17th were just from Baghdad bombs and that, as
Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) in real time, the actual death toll from violence that day was 52 and forget other big days of violence (
February 16th, we noted 18 dead).
Just go with those figures: 30, 23, 26, 18, 37 and 22. That's 138
deaths. (Check my math always.) From just *six* days. And that's 2
deaths more than the official figures say.
Grasp that no major skill was required to reveal the ministry figures as fraudulent. So is
Reuters too dumb, too lazy, or are they in on the con?
Through Wednesday, February 27th,
Iraq Body Count counts 316 deaths. Which means, despite claims to the contrary there was
no reduction in violence.
As we noted above, the Associated Press reported 22 dead on Feburary
28th. Add 22 to 316 and you have 338. The reality is when Iraq Body
Count updates, it will probably have more than 22 deaths (they're not
Baghdad-centric which is why they're able to report deaths across
Iraq). But let's say they just go with 22. That would be 338. As
noted in the
February 1st snapshot, IBC's toll for January was 341.
So we're talking a death toll that remained the same. For the very slow -- which may include
Reuters
-- that would be 338 deaths over 28 days. There were 31 days in
January. Even setting aside that IBC will probably list more than 22
deaths, it's the same basic number.
Other measures? We can't use the
AFP count. Prashant Rao is out of Iraq currently and is apparently the only one who fills in
the spreadsheet. We can use AKE's figures via their own John Drake.
@johnfdrake
Expand
Expand
Expand
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So for that period of time, AKE's counting 318 deaths and 850 injured.
Does
Reuters really want to stand with the Iraqi government and claim there were only 136 deaths took place?
Repeating, February saw no reduction in violence despite the government claims that
Reuters echoed without skepticism, question or common sense.
Let's stay with bad press as the topic. The
New York Times headlines their piece "
Massacre of Syrian Soldiers in Iraq Raises Risk of Widening Conflict." Widening conflict?
Dahsiell Bennett (The Atlantic) toes that White House line as well:
As has been feared for months, violence from the Syrian civil war has
spilled across the border into Iraq, threatening an already unstable
balance of power in the neighboring country. A group of Syrian soliders
were ambushed and killed inside Iraqi territory on Monday, raising concerns that the violent conflicts in both countries could somehow merge.
Reality,
fighting is taking place in Syria. Two sides, the Syrian military, the
US-backed 'rebels.' In this case, the Syrian military ran into Iraq.
It doesn't really matter whether it's the military or the so-called
'rebels.' When you holler "Tag! You're it!" as you run to base, the
other side's going to follow you. In this case, they appear to have
gotten sympathizers with the 'rebels' to attack. It doesn't matter.
When
you cross borders in the midst of the war, that's what can enlarge a
battle field, not a massacre after you've crossed over. Nouri's made
the decision to back President Bashar Assad's government. This morning,
for example,
Nouri (or his office) Tweets today about
posting a new photo to his Facebook page
-- a new photo of Bashar Assad. He's made the decision that Iraq will
provide harbor. When you do that, you expand the conflict. The attack
didn't expand it. The attack is in response to Nouri expanding the
conflict by providing a harbor for the Syrian military.
Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) quotes
Nouri's 'adviser' Ali al-Mussawi stating, "From the beginning, we have
warned that some militant groups want to move the conflict in Syria to
Iraq." al-Mussawi gets closer to reality when the AP quotes him, "We do
not want more soldiers to cross our borders and we do not want to be
part of the problem." Then stop allowing fleeing sides in the combat to
cross into your country.
In the region currently is
US
Secretary of State John Kerry whose trips wraps up Tuesday and will
have taken him to Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi
Arabia (as well as through parts of Europe). Today in Saudi Arabia, John Kerry and Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, spoke to the press.
In his remarks, Secretary Kerry noted:
During this time of great political transition and uncertainty, we’re
working together to promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the
Middle East and around the world. Across the Arab world, men and women
have spoken out demanding their universal rights and greater
opportunity. Some governments have responded with willingness to reform.
Others, as in Syria, have responded with violence. So I want to
recognize the Saudi Government for appointing 30 women to the Shura
Council and promoting greater economic opportunity for women. Again, we
talked about the number of women entering the workforce and the
transition that is taking place in the Kingdom. We encourage further
inclusive reforms to ensure that all citizens of the Kingdom ultimately
enjoy their basic rights and their freedoms.
Arab social
media is quoting the above up through "have responded with violence."
And they're asking how John Kerry can be unaware that
Friday, January 25th,
Nouri al-Maliki's forces killed 11 peaceful protesters in Falluja.
Some aren't asking how he can be unaware, some are just mocking him --
and the US government -- for thinking, in the words of one, "Arabs are
stupid." The US government always looks sad when it tries to put one
over on a foreign country. Over the weekend,
NINA quoted
Sheikh Khalid Hmoud, Falluja protest organizer, stating, "We have
authorized journalist Bahjat al-Kurdi, who is residing in Holland, to
bring a suit before the International Court of Justice at The Hague on
charges of military elements opened fire, a month ago [. . . ]"
Alsumaria reports
protesters in Khan Bani Saad have cut off the main road from Baghdad
to Baquba as they protest the deterioration of basic public services.
Meanwhile
Iraqi Spring MC reports that Nouri's forces are raiding the homes of protesters in Samarra today. In other protest news,
Jake Rudnitsky (Bloomberg News) reports, "The Iraqi army broke up a protest
today by people seeking work at the OAO Lukoil-operated West
Qurna-2 oil field, according to a Moscow-based company official. Several dozen people blocked the entrance to a central
processing facility run by Samsung Group, according to the
official, asking not to be identified due to company policy."
Reuters, which has become state-controlled media in Iraq, adds,"
Officials of the state-run Southern Oil Company
said there was no disturbance around any of the producing oilfields in
the south of Iraq and production was proceeding as normal."
AP reports
there were 150 protesters and quotes an Iraqi military colonel stating,
"These people have been waiting for a long time to get jobs. They were
very angry and things got out of control" the army colonel said. "The
police couldn't stop them from entering the site, and that's why the
army was called in."
What's especially disturbing is that it's become normal in Iraq to call in the military and sick them on the Iraqi people.
Al Jazeera estimated
that there were 650,000 people in the Iraqi police force. And yet the
military is used. And yet, the US government keeps arming Nouri with
weapons he can use against the Iraq people. The US government isn't the
only one willing to supply Nouri with weapons.
October 9th,
Nouri was strutting across the world stage as he inked a $4.2 billion
weapons deal with Russia. The deal became iffy among corruption charges
(with fingers pointing at Nouri and his son) and Nouri's spokesperson
Ali al-Dabbagh fearful that Nouri was going to hang the corruption on
him causing al-Dabbagh to flee Iraq.
Dar Addustour reports that Parliamentary sources say the body's Integrity Commission has requested warrants for al-Dbbagh and his brother.
UPI reminds, "Russia and Iraq had reached a deal for Russian Mi-28NE attack
helicopters and Pantsyr mobile air-defense systems in October but an
Iraqi spokesman said shortly afterward the deal was on hold."
So the deal's on . . . Or is it?
Global Research republishes The Voice of Russia's interview with Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari:
Mr. Zebari, Massoud Barzani, President of Iraqi Kurdistan, has
recently visited Moscow. In his interview to the Voice of Russia he
mentioned that the anticipated large deal of arms supply from Russia to
Iraq had reportedly fallen through. It appears that the Kurds don’t like
that deal that much. Has it really been cancelled? Are there no more
arms supplies from Russia to Iraq planned for the near term?
Naturally, Iraq needs to acquire weapons and modernize its army and
military equipment. Such are the main tasks for the country’s security –
it is our lawful right. It is clear why in pursuing that goal Iraq has
turned to Russia among other countries. The Iraqi army has in its
arsenal a lot of arms produced in Russia. From that point of view,
Russia is closest to us. We have been talking to the Russian side about
our needs for a long time. But by the way, during the visit of our Prime
Minister to Moscow last fall that I mentioned (I was a part of that
delegation), the press gave figures of the volume of the contracts that
had little to do with reality. Yes, there was an exchange of opinions.
We presented our requirements; the Russian side described its proposals.
We discussed the timing. But the press also talked about the contracts,
which had not been signed at that point. In many cases it was only our
intensions that back then were at the negotiations stage.
As far as the signed contracts go that deal with the acquisition of
weapons in Russia, they have not been cancelled. However, we have not
started executing them yet.
When will the first supply commence?
As soon as the financial issue is resolved. I believe that the first
shipments of weapons from Russia to Iraq will start before the summer,
as the latest term.
Woah. What was that? As soon as the
financial issue is resolved? You resolve those issues in negotiations,
you resolve them before you sign a contract.
Last
Friday, at the Ramadi protest, Minister of Finance Rafie al-Issawi resigned.
Alsumaria reported Saturday that Nouri's State of Law is dismissing the notion that others will step down from the council.
Al Mada added
that al-Issawi called today for others to leave the council including
Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq. al-Issawi and al-Mutlaq are both
members of Iraqiya. Iraqiya came in first in the 2010 parliamentary
elections, besting Nouri's State of Law.
al-Issawi told Kitabat that
he resigned because there had been over 70 days of protest and the
government had still not responded to the protesters. He notes that a
government is supposed to be responsive to the people, not ignore them.
He told Alsumaria that
Article IV -- which has been used to punish so many Sunnis -- is no
longer going to work and that the government refused to listen to the
protesters or to take accountability for the eleven shot dead in Falluja
by Nouri's forces January 25th. He feels the solution to the crises
facing Iraq can be found in the sit-ins taking place.
As the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War approaches, many offer reflections.
Patrick Cockburn (Independent) reports:
Iraq is disintegrating as a country under the pressure of a mounting
political, social and economic crisis, says Iraqi leaders.
They add that 10 years after the US invasion and occupation the
conflict between the three main communities -- Shia, Sunni and Kurd --
is deepening to a point just short of civil war. "There is zero trust
between Iraqi leaders," says an Iraqi politician in daily contact with
them.
Roula Khalaf (Financial Times of London) observes:
that Iraqis "live in an unstable country run by a sectarian-driven and
often corrupt political elite that puts its own narrow interests above
those of society. As they mark the 10th anniversary of the change later
this month, Iraqis are wondering whether they are doomed to exist in a
dysfunctional state, which still fails to provide either security or
basic services."
All Iraq News reports
a rather bold assertion by a Kurdish MP, "MP Adel Abdullah, of the
Kurdistani Alliance stated that the situation in Iraq is close to the
partition rather than changing the regime where the govenrment,
especially the Premier, Nouri al-Maliki, is convinced that Iraq is about
to be divided into three countries."
Violence continues today in Iraq. Alsumaria reports a
Mosul suicide bombing targeting a police headquarters which left 5 police officers dead and eleven pople injured, a
Mosul roadside bombing injured three more police officers. and, dropping back to last night,
3 Babil Province bombings are said to have injured two soldiers and caused an army major to have a heart attack which killed him. The
National Iraqi News Agency notes
1 female corpse was discovered in Hilla, a
Mosul
firefight between Nouri's forces and unknown assailants has left a
bystander dead -- a 10-year-old bystanded who was shot in the head, and "
Unidentified
gunmen attacked an Iraqi army vehicle [. . .] carrying 4 wounded [. .
.] Syrian government troops in western Anbar this afternoon."
If you visit
this ACLU page,
you will find documents released under the Freedom of Information Act
detailing the abuse and torture in the last ten years of various people
by those working for the US government.
We'll focus on one set of documents on an Iraqi woman. She self-reports theft and abuse to the military on April 29, 2004:
Basis
for Investigation: About 1300, 29 Apr 04, this office was notified by
22nd Military Police (MP) Battalion (BN), Baghdad, IZ of an alleged
detainee abuse of Ms. _____
Ms. ___ reported she was arrested from
her residence and transported via helicopter to an unknown interrogation
center. She was detained for approximately 5 days. During her
detention, she was abused, which resulted in two broken fingers, black
eye and made to crawl around on all-fours as a "large man rode" on her,
calling her an animal. Ms. ______ described the unknown subjects as 1) a
fat white male, approximately 6' 3", 125 kilos, 30 years old, black
hair, brown eyes, who spoke Arabi (NFI). The second subject was
described as a white female, 25 years old, blond hair, who did not speak
Arabic (NFI). Both subjects wore military uniforms with name patches
(NFI). Ms _____ also received a receipt for property siezed and
damaged at the time of her arrest. The receipt indicated $3,600,000
(7,550,000.00 Iraqi Dinars) and jewelry were seized and the doors and
windows of her residence, which entitled her to compensation. The
receipt also stated she could retrieve her property after 14 Oct 03.
A
month later, May 5, 2004, more work on her complaint has been done
(typos and incorrect spelling is in the original document, I've not
changed it -- one time they spell "Jewlerly" for "jewelry," another time
they get it right, they never get "anally" correct, etc.):
ON
5 MAY 04 THIS OFFICE WAS NOTIFIED BY THE 22ND MILITARY POLICE
BATTALION, BAGHDAD, IZ, THAT MS. ____ WAS POSSIBLY ABUSED, WHILE
DETAINED BY COALITION FORCES.
PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION REVEALED MS.
_____ WAS APPREHENDED ON 11 AUG 03 AND DETAINED AT AN UNKNOWN
LOCATION. WHEN MS. ____ WAS APPREHENDED, SHE ALLEGED THAT INDIVIDUALS
CONFISCATED HER MONEY AND JEWLERLY AND HAS NOT RETURNED IT. FURTHER
INVESTIGATION REVEALED MS. ____ WAS ANALY SODOMIZED, IDECENTLY
ASSAULTED, AND PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED WHILE SHE WAS DETAINED AT THE
UNKNOWN LOCATION BY AN UNKNOWN WHITE MALE.
ON 5 MAY 04, MS. _____ WAS
INTERVIEWED AND STATED SHE WAS APPREHENDED BY COALITION FORCES SHE
BELIEVED TO BE AMERICANS AND DURING THE APPREHENSION THE INDIVIDUALS
CONFISCATED HER MONEY AND JEWELRY AND HAS NOT RETURNED HER MONEY OR
PROPERTY. MS. _____ FURTHER STATED SHE WAS MISTREATED BY HER CAPTORS
WHEN THEY DEPRIVED HER OF FOOD AND WATER FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, AND AN
UNKNOWN MALE PHYSICALLY ABUSED HER ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, ANALY
SODOMIZED, AND INDECENTLY ASSAULTED HER.
As documented
above, "further investigation revealed," by May 2004, that the woman
"was anally sodomized" as well as indecently assaulted and physically
assaulted. And what happened after that? Nothing. They give her some
money for the stolen property (how much is not specified) and they
vanish the further investigation and instead maintain that there was no
evidence she'd been sodomized. How does that happen? How is
established and then it vanishes? Oh, right, that's how a cover up
works. And part of the cover up is also ignoring the indecent and
physical assault evidence. That's how no one gets in trouble and why
there's a note that no disciplinary action needs to be taken.
In
England, the above tends to get publicly aired. Brits who care about
justice tend to complain that the investigations they get into the Iraq
War end in a whitewash. While that is true, at least some reality gets
aired -- that's more than has happened in the US.
The Metro reports,
"British troops killed, mutilated and tortured civilians following a
battle in Iraq, the start of an inquiry heard. Graphic images were
shown of missing eyes and genitals among the bodies of unarmed men who
were taken to an army base." What's going on? An inquiry known as the
Al-Sweady Inquiry, named after Iraqi Hamid al-Sweady, a 19-year-old
killed in May of 2004.
Huffington Post UK reports, "The Al-Sweady Inquiry is examining claims that UK soldiers murdered 20
or more Iraqis and tortured detainees after the 'Battle of Danny Boy' in
Maysan Province, southern Iraq, in May 2004."
Richard Norton-Taylor (Guardian) explains, "Nine Iraqis say they were tortured after being taken to a detention
centre at Shaibah base near Basra and held there for four months. They
say they were taken, along with the 20 murdered Iraqis, to a British
base, Camp Abu Naji, after a fierce firefight in what became known as
the battle of Danny Boy, a British
military checkpoint near Majar al-Kabir, on 14 May 2004."
Allstair Bunkall (Sky News) notes:
The incident was initially investigated by the Royal Military Police and latterly the Iraq Historic Allegations Team.
But the independence and objectivity of that was brought into question
by lawyers who successfully argued that some of the investigators might
have conflicting motives. And so the Al Sweady Inquiry was commissioned
by the former defence secretary Bob Ainsworth.
More than 50 Iraqis will give evidence, some in London but the majority
in Beirut later in the year. Around 200 British military witnesses will
also be questioned.
Cecilia French, the Secretary for the Inquiry, tells Caroline Hawley (BBC News), "In most public inquiries, you know what has happened and you are
trying to find out why - and how you can avoid it in the future. But this public inquiry is more like a criminal trial
because you have two completely different accounts of what happened and
we're trying to find out the truth, which makes this very unusual." You can find profiles of the various members of the Inquiry
here. We'll note the Chair of the Inquiry:
Sir Thayne Forbes was called to the bar in 1966 and appointed Queen's
Counsel in 1984. He was made Official Referee in 1990 and in 1993 he
became a High Court Judge assigned to the Queen's Bench Division. As
Presiding Judge of the Northern Circuit he conducted the trial of Dr
Harold Shipman on 15 separate counts of murder. From 2001 to 2004 he was
the Judge in charge of the Technology and Construction Court. He then
chaired a working group on Judicial Welfare and Support and, from 2006,
chaired the Judges' Council's Standing Committee on the same subject. He
retired as a High Court Judge in January 2009 but at the Lord Chief
Justice's request he continued to chair the Standing Committee with
particular responsibility for judicial welfare in England and Wales. He
retired from this position in December 2009. Sir Thayne was appointed to
chair the Al-Sweady Inquiry by the Secretary of State for Defence on 25
November 2009.
PanArmenian.net points out, "The Al-Sweady inquiry is the second public inquiry into allegations of
abuse by British troops in Iraq, following one that examined the death
of Baha Mousa in 2003, and has been described as 'unprecedented' in its
scope." Today,
Paddy McGuffin (Morning Star) reports,
"Lead counsel for the inquiry Jonathan Acton Davis QC revealed that its
investigators had to request disclosure from the MoD some 250 times
before they gained access documents relevant to the case. During its
investigations the inquiry team found thousands of previously
undisclosed documents including nine detainee files that had not been
disclosed to the claimants or the court in the judicial review
proceedings, he said." Not a good start when the oversight
investigation attorney is opening with the fact that the ministry in
question has failed to turn over files. Things did not improve from
there.
Reuters notes that the Inquiry reviewed documentation on death certificates and discovered that "
three of the bodies bore signs of torture including missing eyes, a missing penis and crushed bones.."
ITV News adds
that they viewed footage today of "bodies being taken to hospital. The
graphic footage showed body bags being carried into a local hospital
and doctors pointing to some alleged signs of torture."
RT adds:
One of the first jobs of the inquiry is to try and establish
whether the 20 Iraqis were killed in battle as the MoD claims or if
in fact they were captured alive and then unlawfully killed.
The inquiry will also try to determine if five men taken
prisoner following the battle of Danny Boy were mistreated at a
second British base in Shaibah, near Basara, between 14 May and 23
September 2004.
and
"I never would have agreed to the
formation of the CIA back in forty-seven
. . . if I had known it would become the American Gestapo."
-- Harry S. Truman
That's from a title card in the documentary (first title card) by Joe Ayella entitled
American Coup.
The film addresses the CIA overthrowing the democratically elected
government of Iran in 1953 because Iran was nationalizing the oil.
Hulu is currently carrying the documentary and promoting it as what took
place before Argo -- the film, not documentary, for which Ben Affleck
won Best Picture at last week's Academy Awards. You can stream it now.
If you wait a few months from now and it's gone, don't e-mail asking
how to see it. On the topic of the CIA and the media,
Tom Hayden wrote a great piece of ZNet last week. This almost got noted at Third.
Mike wanted to note
Norman Solomon's strong column from last week
and we were going to do something on best reads of the week. Time (and
other things) prevented that. I'm not including Tom's because I agree
with it. I think it's well written and he backs up his arguments.
There are points where I disagree. But it's a very strong piece of
writing and more than worth reading.
iraq
cnn
mohammed tawfeeq
reuters
al mada
national iraqi news agency
alsumaria
all iraq news
the independent
patrick cockburn
bloomberg news
jake rudnitsky
the huffington post uk
richard norton-taylor
the guardian
sky news
allstair bunkall
bbc news
caroline hawley
panarmenian.net
John Drake
John Drake