Kitabat reports that protesters decried the injustice of the government and delcared their support for the detainees, the displaced and the oppressed. It was noted that Nouri's government has killed and arrested thousands and thousands of innocent people, displaced families and attempted to marginalize the Sunni people. In Samarra, it was asked how long the Sunni people could endure that militias targeting them and the other attacks, how long can they endure the targeting and killing, and how many more 'talks' must take place resulting in empty promises and empty words?
National Iraqi News Agency reports Samarra's protest saw Sheikh Sajid Khudair denounce the government's refusal to protect the Sunni mosques in Baghdad ("a disgrace") leading to their closures today, "By what right kill
the sons of Sunni component while the security forces which see the
killing of innocent people keep silent, including Sheikh Qasim
al-Mashhadani."
Late yesterday, Cedric and Wally posted the following:
Weekly Feminist News Digest - 11/18/2013 - 11/22/2013 The Weekly Feminist News Digest is a service of the Feminist Majority Foundation, made possible through the support of individuals like you. Your contribution is vital to the continued success of our empowering work. Donate Today! Top Feminist News - 11/18/2013 - 11/22/2013
Nov 21 2013 Updates to PEPFAR Increase Oversight, Funding for Children Congress passed the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Stewardship and Oversight Act of 2013 on Tuesday, reaffirming and strengthening its commitment to reducing global HIV/AIDS...http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=14723
Nov 20 2013 Albuquerque Voters Defeat Anti-Abortion Ballot Measure Last night, voters in Albuquerque, New Mexico defeated an unprecedented ballot measure that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks and contained no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the woman...http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=14721
Nov 19 2013 Albuquerque Residents Vote On 20 Week Abortion Ban Today Residents in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico will vote on a ballot measure today that, if passed, would ban abortion after 20 weeks of gestation without exceptions for the life and health of the mother or survivors of rape or incest...http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=14719
Nov 18 2013 US Leaders Speak Out on Role of Women in Afghanistan's Transition Secretary of State John Kerry, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former First Lady Laura Bush called for increased support for Afghan women during the "Advancing Afghan Women: Promoting Peace and Progress in Afghanistan"symposium held in Washington, DC last week. The US leaders asserted that women must be a strong part of Afghanistan's upcoming political, security, and economic transitions as Afghanistan holds newelections and the US withdraws its troops in 2014...http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=14716
Thursday, November 21, 2013. Chaos and violence continue, the floods continue, John Wright's simplistic 'answers' are damaging, Anonymous has a video, and more.
Did you hear about those awful Gittes?
Those people are just evil. They just want to take over the world. The whole region would be better off without them.
Thank goodness, we know that they are inherently evil, right?
Now we know the cause of all the violence.
And since it's just those damn Gittes, there's no reason to look to what anyone else is doing wrong, certainly not a government.
It's just those Gittes, they have death and destruction on the brain -- it's in their blood.
So now that we know the problem we just have to figure out if we're going to arrest them all or just kill 'em? Hunt em down, exterminate them, right?
There are no Gittes.
The above is stated for a reason (and Gittes because I had Chinatown on the brain -- script by Robert Towne and Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway star with Jack Nicholson playing private investigator JJ Gittes).
But Wright tells you the problem is Sunnis. Sometimes he says "Sunni fundamentalists."
There are some Sunnis who do resort to violence - -they're not the only group in the rgion that does -- and it apparently is 'cute' to call them "fundamentalists." But 'cute' or not, that's also inaccurate. Fundemantalists are one thing -- in any religion, in any area. They take their religion very seriously. Doing so means they don't usually resort to violence. In the US, we have some religious fundamentalists who are opposed to this or that. Religious fundamentalist in the US do not, for example, kill abortion doctors. The ones who do that are extremists or fanatics; however, they aren't really "fundamentalists." Fundamentalists would take to prayer not to bombing an abortion clinic.
Fundamentalists are different than I am. I live a secular life with modern toys and amusements. But they're being different from me -- or me being different from them -- doesn't give me the right to misdescribe them. And pay really close attention here because this is the part that effects all of humanity: When you hold up violence as a form of religious fundamentalism?
The grown ups who are fundamentalists blow you off. They know better.
They know that they have strict observance of their faith and that's what makes them fundamentalists.
Kids?
Kids are always trying to make sense of the world and figure out where they fit in -- that is what growing ups about. So you take a confused kid with religious leanings -- especially one shocked by some new development or modernity -- and you raise him -- via the media -- to believe that religious fundamentalism -- strict observance of your faith -- means bombing and killing people?
You've just created a generation of people who now believe this is how you express your faith.
That's especially likely in Iraq where there are so many orphans as a result of the illegal war. In November of last year, Caroline Hawley (BBC News) reported "that between 800,000 to a million Iraqi children have lost one or both of their parents." That's a huge number. It's also probably an undercount -- 4.5 million is probably closer to reality., the Iraqi Orphan Foundation estimates the number to be 3 million and, at the start of 2009, Timothy Williams (New York Times) reported 740,000 widows in Iraq -- not all widows have children or children under the age of 18 but there are a huge number of orphans in Iraq without any parent and that was 2009. The violence hasn't ceased since 2009 and, in fact, it has picked up. Regardless of whether the number is four million or one million, that's a huge number -- especially in Iraq where the population is estimated.
The teenage years are fraught with confusion -- bodies change, hormones rage, you're still a child but confronted with adult situations. For some teenagers, that period can be one where they find salvation in religion or retreat deeply into it, however you want to see it. Do you really want to create the message for this group of children that bombing and shooting -- killing -- is religious fundamentalism?
John Wright's uninformed and ugly stereotype is not only false, it is highly damaging.
But it is false as well.
By blaming Sunnis for the problems in Iraq, Wright's able to ignore so much including how Nouri al-Maliki fuels the violence.
There is no speedy justice. People linger in jails, detention centers and prisons with the no court appearance and, in fact, often with no charges brought against them.
Some held in prisons, jails and detention centers can't be charged. They were arrested but they were arrested for no real reason. They aren't even suspects. But, in Iraq, when you can't find the suspect, you're allowed to arrest their wives or mothers or siblings or fathers or children or grandparents.
They're rounded up and arrested with no one believing they broke a law. They're arrested, taken from their homes and thrown behind bars because they're related to a suspect.
The disappeared (into the 'legal system') are among the issues fueling the ongoing protests. As Mayada Al-Askari (Gulf News) observed Monday, "In the past two years, demonstrations have increased in Baghdad and other
governorates as people have been calling for better services, the
release of women detainees and more civil rights."
Now if the problem is just these 'bad' Sunnis, as John Wright keeps insisting, then we don't have to worry about what Nouri's doing, we don't have to worry about a minority population being disenfranchised.
Preachers of Friday-prayers called on the sit-inner in their sermons to
continue the sit-ins as are the only way to get rid of injustice and
abuse policy. They said in the common prayer which held in six
regions of Diyala province : " Iraqi government must not deal with the
demands of the protestors in a double standard . Urging worshipers to
unify their stand until getting the demands, release innocent prisoners
and detainees from prisons.
Kitabat reports
that Sheikh Mohammed al-Dulaimi spoke at the Falluja protest and
accused the government of supporting militias who target and kill
Sunnis. The Sheikh said that instead of implementing the demands of the
protesters, the government would rather target or ignore the
protesters. National Iraqi News offers the Sheikh said, ""The Iraqi government rather than implement the demands of the
protesters and adopt genuine reconciliation with people, it tracking and
embarrassing the protest leaders, since 9 Months ago claimants the
usurped legal rights."
Sheikh Mohammed al-Dulaimi is correct in his accusation: Nouri
al-Maliki (prime minister and chief thug of Iraq) is supporting Shi'ite
militias. Tim Arango (New York Times) broke that story last week
-- but somehow the US Congress and the rest of the media missed it.
(The media may be playing dumb. Members of Congress actually missed it,
I spoke with several yesterday about Tim Arango's report.) Arango
noted:
In supporting Asaib al-Haq, Mr. Maliki has apparently made the risky
calculation that by backing some Shiite militias, even in secret, he can
maintain control over the country’s restive Shiite population and,
ultimately, retain power after the next national elections, which are
scheduled for next year. Militiamen and residents of Shiite areas say
members of Asaib al-Haq are given government badges and weapons and
allowed freedom of movement by the security forces.
So in addition to all the other targeting, they're also being targeted by Shi'ite militias and these are government sanctioned militias -- armed and outfitted by Nouri al-Maliki.
But don't worry about that.
That doesn't matter.
Remember, John Wright knows the problem: It's the Sunnis. That's the only problem. So there's no need to reform the government or to examine how all of this effects Iraq,
John Wright's xenophobia and ugly stereotypes are not helping anyone.
Security source told NINA that SWAT force raided the house of Hijra
Mosque's Imam and Preacher, Salam Selbi al-Fahdawi, taking him to a
security center.For its part, the Association of Moslem Scholars
said that it will close on Friday all of the province's mosques
protesting the arrests being practiced by security forces against the
province's dignitaries and mosques imams and preachers, including
Thursday's arrest, and that demonstration will follow the closure of
mosques to protest the arrests and demanding the release of detainees.
Monday came news that 12 more people were executed. Iraq was in the top three countries for numbers of executions last year with 130 executions. This year there have already been at least 144 executions. Ammar Karim (AFP) observed, "The growing use of the death penalty comes with violence in Iraq at a
level not seen since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a
brutal sectarian conflict."
Iraq Body Count notes that, through Wednesday, there have been 503 violent deaths in Iraq so far this month and over 7,800 for the year so far. AFP's Prashant Rao Tweets:
With today's attacks in Iraq, the death toll this month has topped 400 for an eighth consecutive month - @AFP tally: http://u.afp.com/IraqToll
AFP reports on the flooding in Iraq and notes protests over inadequate public services: “What is happening is because of the government,” said Ali Hussein, a protester in Nasiriyah.
“There
must be real measures taken after what has happened. They should take
things seriously, as the conditions here are really bad.” Six
people died in building collapses caused by flooding in Nasiriyah, while
two women and a child were killed in similar circumstances in
Diwaniyah. In Babil province, south of Baghdad, two children died
as a result of collapsing buildings, while more than 50 families had to
take shelter at a tourist resort after their houses flooded.
As we've already noted this week, Iraq's now in the rainy season. This
is not surprising, it happens every year. It is surprising that Nouri
has refused to improve the public services.
Iraq's sewage civil system last had major work in the 1970s. Despite
bringing in over 100 billion yearly for oil, Nouri won't spend money to
fix things. Last December, he announced he would fix the public sewage
system.
And then, he didn't.
Which is Nouri's pattern.
Without a working sewage system, the heavy rains do not drain, they
stand in the streets and that's why most of the flooding is taking
place.
That's on Nouri and no one else.
Turning to the United States, David DeGraw notes this Anonymous video to the music of Linkin Park's "A Light That Never Comes."
"A Light That Never Comes" is written by Linkin Park and Steve Aoki and first appears on their new album Recharged.
Nah you don't know me
Lightning above and a fire below me
You cannot catch me, cannot hold me
You cannot stop much less control me
When it rains it pours
When the floodgates open, brace your shores
That pressure don't care when it breaks your doors
Say it's all you can take, better take some more
(Oh)
'Cause I know what it's like to test fate
Had my shoulders pressed with that weight
Stood up strong in spite of that hate
(Oh)
Night gets darkest right before dawn
What doesn't kill you makes you more strong
And I've been waiting for it so long
The nights go on
Waiting for a light that never comes
I chase the sun
Waiting for a light that never comes
(Oh)
Waiting for a light that never comes
When I was young they told me, they said
Make your bed, you lie in that bed
A king can only reign 'til instead
There comes that day, it's "off with his head"
(Oh)
Night gets darkest right before dawn
What don't kill you makes you more strong
You'll have my mercy then when you're gone
The nights go on
Waiting for a light that never comes
I chase the sun
Waiting for a light that never comes
(Oh)
Waiting for a light that never comes
And I told them: nah you don't know me
Lightning above and a fire belowme
You cannot catch me, you cannot hold me
You cannot stop much less control me
When it rains it pours
When the floodgates open, brace your shores
That pressure don't care, it breaks your door
Say it's all you can take, better take some more
Oh oh oh oh...
Waiting for a light that never comes
The nights go on
Waiting for a light that never comes
I chase the sun
Waiting for a light that never comes
Oh oh oh
Waiting for a light that never comes
Anonymous notes:
Reform is the light that never comes. Tyranny reigns. Revolution is
all we have left... This video was created in support of the Anonymous
call for a Worldwide Wave of Action ~ #www. Here are several sites that
have reposted the original call to action:
اعلام الربيع العراقي 
Prashant Rao