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Now they're not lying?

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I love it when supposed leftists (really just blindly loyal Democrats) insist that the White House would never lie about Benghaiz.  Based on what?

They think the White House already exhausted itself lying about Libya before September 12, 2012 rolled around?

We do remember, right, that the White House lied to start their war on Libya?  And that the White House has lied ever since?

Jean Shaoul (WSWS) reports:


Libya’s capital city Tripoli was at a virtual standstill yesterday. Most of Tripoli’s businesses, schools and public sector workers went out on strike, demanding that militias leave the city.
A 48-hour state of emergency was declared Saturday. Tripoli saw some of the bloodiest fighting since the overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with at least 45 people killed in demonstrations on Friday and Saturday. Residents set up checkpoints and barricades of metal, wood and tires to protect their neighbourhoods.

This is President Barack Obama carrying out the empire plans Bully Boy Bush started.

President Obama is a crook, a War Criminal.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:  



Monday, November 18, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, silence continues on Barack's attempts to bury Bully Boy Bush's War Crimes, campaigning continues in Iraq, Nancy Youssef thinks she has the integrity to fact check others (yes, that is laughter you here), and much more.




Let's start off with  Tweets:


  • Is Iraq report being blocked because it proves Blair and Bush war crimes?


  • and:


  • ‘Suspicious things going on’: UK, US aiming to block Iraq war inquiry — RT Op-Edge:


  • and:










  • Noel Brinkerhoff (AllGov) reports today:



    A British inquiry into how the government of the United Kingdom decided to join the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 is being held up by officials in the White House and the U.S. State Department, which have refused to allow the publication of secret documents revealing conversations between former President George W. Bush and former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
    A group consisting of British diplomats, politicians and academics has spent four years -- at a cost of nearly $13 million -- reviewing Britain’s choice to attack Iraq. But the inquiry’s leader, Sir John Chilcot, has been unable to publish its final report because of the British government’s refusal -- at the behest of American officials -- to disclose pre- and post-war communications between the White House and the Prime Minster’s Office.



    And we'll again note Sarah Lazare (Mint Press), "Yet, the U.S. government is forbidding the release of communications between Blair and Bush in the lead-up to the war, declaring it classified information and pressuring British Prime Minister David Cameron to wipe this information from the report."

    Meet 2013's Downing Street Memo, the Iraq Inquiry.  It's blotted out not just by the US MSM but also by FAIR and Amy Goodman and all the other beggars always hitting you up for money.

    Wow.  Once upon a time those of us on the left expected and demanded in investigation into the lies of the illegal war.  Today, we're not even bothered that Barack's working to continue the cover up.


    Let's start with a 'reporter' -- one with tons of rumors about her.   Nancy A. Youssef of McClatchy Newspapers among other things wants to critique Lara Logan.


    Joan Rivers used to do a joke about Sophia Loren and a candy bar during WWII.  That joke was applied repeatedly to Nancy by her peers during the Iraq War.  When I heard it, I would say, "Yeah, it's Joan Rivers." (Toss a Hershey bar into her tent and she'll drop to all fours -- that's the spine of the joke.)  And they would talk about how Nancy allegedly flirted with the military -- or allegedly more than flirted -- to explain her 'scoops.'

    Which was always strange to me because Nancy had only one scoop her whole time in Iraq. (Given to her by Petraeus.)


    But now the woman whose male and femalepeers called her so many names (everything but "reporter")  thinks she has the clout to take on CBS News.  (An ABC-er said today, "If she'd been stationed in Iran, we could have called her The Trampoline of Tehran." He said I should include that and should include it as anonymous -- "Though she'll know it's me" -- since Nancy's 'report' is nothing but anonymous sources.)

    Rumors of her vast sexual antics to the side, how did she do with her analysis?

    She writes:

    The report repeatedly referred to al Qaida as solely responsible for the attack on the compound and made no mention of Ansar al Shariah, the Islamic extremist group that controls and provides much of the security in restive Benghazi and that has long been suspected in the attack. While the two organizations have worked together in Libya, experts said they have different aims – al Qaida has global objectives while Ansar al Shariah is focused on turning Libya into an Islamic state.


    That does sound damning until you grasp that most of the press lumps Ansar al Shariah and al Qaeda together (because the two can be linked).  We stand alone -- Nancy's never joined us, maybe that's good since I'd hate to be mistaken for a street whore -- in pointing out that the press blaming attacks in Iraq for "al Qaeda" is a catch-all that is false and blinds people to reality.  Even confining it to al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is not good enough, nor precise enough.  But we've made that argument against all outlets -- that would include Nance's McClatchy Newspapers.

    In other words, Nancy hopped a high horse to go after an easy target -- to decry what the bulk of the press -- including her own outlet -- does.  "For shorthand" a correspondent insisted when we called it out here.


    So no points for Nance on that.

    Nancy then thinks she's found a stronger point:


    Logan claimed that “it’s now well established that the Americans were attacked by al Qaida in a well-planned assault.” But al Qaida has never claimed responsibility for the attack, and the FBI, which is leading the U.S. investigation, has never named al Qaida as the sole perpetrator. Rather, it is believed a number of groups were part of the assault, including members and supporters of al Qaida and Ansar al Shariah,

    Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/13/208446/questions-about-60-minutes-benghazi.html#storylink=cpy



    Logan said it was "well established that the Americans were attacked by al Qaida" and Nancy proves her wrong by insisting that the belief is members of Al Qaida and other groups are thought to be responsible?

    Does Nancy read what she writes?  She's actually backed Lara Logan while she thinks she's disproved her.  Logan didn't say "solely by al Qaida,' she said it was an al Qaida attack -- a point Nancy doesn't appear to grasp.  Equally true, the WikiLeaks leak of State Dept cables ties one of the three suspects in Logan's report to al Qaeda.  A point Nancy ignores.  She ignores a great deal.


    For example, Nancy  'disproves' Logan:



    The piece also named three known insurgent operators as top suspects in the attack but did not explain the source of that assertion.

    The three are long suspected of having been involved, Zelin said, but there is no evidence of their specific roles in the attack.
    Two months ago, al Qaida operative Abu Anas al-Libi was captured in Tripoli by U.S. commandoes and brought to New York to stand trial for his alleged role in the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. The “60 Minutes” piece attempted to link al-Libi to the events in Benghazi, with Logan reporting that “Abu Anas al-Libi was captured for his role in the Africa bombings and the U.S. is still investigating what part he may have played in Benghazi.”
    But a U.S. law enforcement source involved in the Benghazi probe, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss a case that’s still under investigation, told McClatchy this week that al-Libi is not under investigation for the Benghazi attacks. Logan did not detail the source for her assertion that he was.

    Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/13/208446/questions-about-60-minutes-benghazi.html#storylink=cpy



    Wow.  That might be damning.

    CBS and Lara Logan might need to apologize . . .

    if Nancy were telling the truth but she's lying.


    We're going to go to the transcript of the report.  Ava and I covered this topic in "TV: Whose mistake?" -- for that, we worked CBS News friends for information -- some of which we've used, some of which we're saving for when someone really makes an idiot of themselves.  Neither Ava nor I know Lara Logan or her producer Max McClellan.  We do have many friends at CBS News and, to clarify, we haven't slept any of them.  We were provided with a full transcript of the segment by CBS friends.  From the transcript.



    Lara Logan:  We have learned the U.S. already knew that this man, senior al Qaeda leader Abu Anas al-Libi was in Libya, tasked by the head of al Qaeda to establish a clandestine terrorist network inside the country. Al-Libi was already wanted for his role in bombing two U.S. embassies in Africa.

    Greg Hicks: It was a frightening piece of information.

    Lara Logan: Because it meant what?

    Greg Hicks: It raised the stakes, changed the game.


    [. . .]

    Lara Logan:  Just a few weeks ago, Abu Anas al-Libi was captured for his role in the Africa bombings and the U.S. is still investigating what part he may have played in Benghazi. We've learned that this man, Sufian bin Qumu, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and long-time al Qaeda operative, was one of the lead planners along with Faraj al-Chalabi, whose ties to Osama bin Laden go back more than 15 years. He's believed to have carried documents from the compound to the head of al Qaeda in Pakistan.



    Let's deal with what Nancy wrote about the government first.  An unnamed government source who is not supposed to discuss the matter told her last week, two weeks after the segment aired, that Abu Anas al-Libi wasn't a suspect.

    To which the obvious question is: Since when?

    The second obvious question is: Where's the investigation?

    By the government of Nancy's phone records.

    Oh, that's right there is none.

    Because authorized leaks -- often lies the government wants to spread -- don't outrage the White House.

    For example, Savannah Luschei (Information Clearing House) reports on reporter James Risen's response to the targeting of him by the government:


    James Risen, the New York Times reporter facing imprisonment for refusing to disclose his sources, denounced the federal government’s infringement on the press in a rare public appearance Thursday, saying it is time for journalists to “surrender or fight.”
    Risen spoke to a crowd of about 300 lawyers, journalists and others at Berdahl Auditorium in Stanley Hall on Thursday evening in a talk hosted by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism titled “Prosecuting the Press.” He spoke alongside Lowell Bergman, director of the graduate school’s Investigative Reporting Program.
    The lack of protection for national security reporters, he said, has allowed the federal government to demand that journalists like him reveal their sources, which threatens the integrity of the press.



    But don't fret for Nancy.  Those who repeat authorized administration leaks are never targeted.


    So Nancy disproves Lara Logan and CBS by offering up an unnamed source who is legally compelled not to talk about the case (an ongoing investigation) but who breaks that legal obligation?  That's a trust worthy source there, Nancy?

    Doesn't sound like it to me but maybe Nancy can furnish further info on her source -- possibly his penis size? -- to explain why we should trust him as deeply as Nancy does?


    Nancy 'disproves' suspect two by running to an 'expert' at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP).  I am happy to quote and critique them here.  I've noted they're to the right of me.  And that's really all I've noted because we don't exactly embrace them -- or present them as genuine experts.  Since Nancy does, let's go to Wikiepedia for some of the criticism of Nancy's source:



    In a December 2003 interview on Al Jazeera, Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian-American professor and director of Columbia University's Middle East Institute, sharply criticized WINEP, stating that it is "the fiercest of the enemies of the Arabs and the Muslims," and describing it as the "most important Zionist propaganda tool in the United States."[15] In response, Martin Kramer, editor of the Middle East Quarterly and visiting fellow at WINEP, defended the group, saying that it is "run by Americans, and accepts funds only from American sources," and that it was "outrageous" for Khalidi to denounce Arabs that visited WINEP as "blundering dupes."[16]
    John Mearsheimer, a University of Chicago political science professor, and Stephen Walt, academic dean at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, describe it as "part of the core" of the Israel lobby in the United States.[17] Discussing the group in their book, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, Mearsheimer and Walt write: "Although WINEP plays down its links to Israel and claims that it provides a 'balanced and realistic' perspective on Middle East issues, this is not the case. In fact, WINEP is funded and run by individuals who are deeply committed to advancing Israel’s agenda … Many of its personnel are genuine scholars or experienced former officials, but they are hardly neutral observers on most Middle East issues and there is little diversity of views within WINEP’s ranks."[17]



    So a group not exactly trusted in the Arab world?  That's Nancy's source for disproving suspect two?  (Suspect two is the one WikiLeaks' release exposed as connected to al Qaeada according to the US State Dept.)   To disprove suspect three . . . well even Nance finally admits she can't.

    A Take down?  She hasn't even raised valid questions?

    Well, maybe one:  Why is this woman employed?


    For those who don't know, Nancy is the mouth piece for the US government -- and she has the metaphorical pubes stuck to her lips to prove it.


    Which is why, for example, before Barack Obama declared Chelsea Manning guilty of crimes, Nancy had already done so -- repeatedly on The Diane Rehm Show.  Nancy became McClatchy's Defense Correspondent because of her closeness -- however you want to define that -- to the military.  When Petreaus was out of government, Nancy again became a foreign correspondent.

    Nancy's entire output is worthless except for the last report she filed for Knight Ridder.  In all the years since, she's had nothing to offer.

    When the ethnic cleansing was taking place in Iraq, Nancy repeatedly was wrong or lied about what was taking place on Haditha Street in Baghdad.  We called that out in real time.  We call it out more loudly now because we've seen photos of what happened.


    We've largely ignored the rumors about Nancy using sex to get stories.  We danced closer to those rumors when we made it clear that she needed to stop declaring Chelsea Manning guilty since she was supposedly a reporter and no trial had been held.  Nancy was, yet again, doing it for the military brass.

    As she's repeatedly demonstrated, no one in the know would ever describe her as a reporter.


    This is demonstrated in this passage by Youssef:


    The piece closed with a picture of a document outlining Stevens’ schedule for Sept. 12, “a day (Stevens) did not live to see.” According to the piece, “When a member of our team went to the U.S. compound earlier this month, he found remnants of the Americans’ final frantic moments still scattered on the ground.”
    But the compound owner, Jamal el Bishari, told McClatchy on Wednesday that he began clearing debris in April from the compound’s four buildings and is still renovating the site. McClatchy visited the site in June and saw a pile of debris sitting outside the compound walls, but no documents were discernible among the broken concrete, clothing, furniture and soot.
    Bishari said it is unlikely such a document could have been discovered recently.
    “It is impossible to find a document now,” he told McClatchy.

    Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/13/208446/questions-about-60-minutes-benghazi.html#storylink=cpy


    While it may or may not be possible to find a document on November 13th (when Nancy filed her 'report'), whether it was on October 5th or 6th is another matter.

    As for McClatchy visiting the site in June, clearly the 'visitor' didn't go through what was available -- 'discernible' wouldn't be required if he or she had.  But a larger point, Nancy doesn't trust or value the person enough to name them.  It's not a reporter.  It's a local.  Knight-Ridder had a history of using locals for stories and paying them well.  McClatchy, by contrast, is known for having lied to locals, misrepresented employment to locals and left them feeling alone and abandoned.  You could ask some of the Iraqi workers, for example.

    Nancy wants you to believe this is an issue she cares about.  So she writes over 2,100 words yet never mentions the names: Glen Doherty, Sean Smith or Tyrone Woods.

    Over 2,1000 words and she can't mention those three men.

    That about says it all.

    Maybe next time we'll talk about how someone imporperly influenced their outlet's coverage of the 'Arab Spring.'



    Simon Jenkins (Guardian) writes today:



    Forty-three people died on Friday in clashes between militias in Libya, as did 22 on Sunday from bombs in Iraq. In Helmand, a return of the Taliban to power is now confidently expected. Why should we care? Why should it feature on our news?
    The answer is that we helped to bring it about. Britain's three foreign wars in the past decade were uninvited military interventions to topple installed governments. All have ended in disaster.



    Where's that same honesty in the US press?

    Did Nancy lose her honesty following Petraeus out of Iraq and then into Afghanistan and then onto DC?  Who knows but she covered all three wars (yes, even Libya, remember the nonsense like "Qaddaif Loyalists Launch Attack On Oil Center in Libya's East" among others).  I guess when she became David Petraeus' personal camp follower, she had to pack rather lightly.  And did.


    Even back when McClatchy pretended to care about Iraq, they were never bothered by executions.  Which may be part of the reason, Iraq is now in the top three in the world when it comes to most people executed each year.  Ammar Karim (AFP) reports that Nouri's government boasted today that they had executed 12 more 'terrorists' today.  By October 10, the number executed was at least 132 so that brings the total to 144.  In their yearly high, Iraq executed at least 130 people in 2012.  2013 will continue their yearly increase.  Kitabat reports that the official making the announcement today refused to provide his name.  Kitabat's count is 144 for the year as well.   Here are the figures for the previous three years, as offered by Kitabat:

    2010 18 executions
    2011 67 executions
    2012 123 executions


    Other violence took place over the weekend. Iraq Body Count notes that, through Sunday, 401 violent deaths so far for the month of November.   Violence continued in Iraq today.  National Iraqi News Agency reports that 1 police officer and 1 Shabak were shot dead in Iraq.  But though Shabak's are a threatened and targeted religious minority in Iraq, don't fear that the US State Dept is without a plan.  As  Brett McGurk, the State Dept's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, explained last Wednesday to the  US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa (see last week's "Iraq snapshot,""Iraq snapshot" and "Iraq snapshot"), he has a plan.  To address the concerns of religious minorities in Iraq, he meets with leaders who reside in Baghdad -- Catholic leaders.  The Shaback's have no leader residing in Baghdad, nor are they Catholic.  Which leaves them ignored by the US State Dept -- as is the case for many religious minorities in Iraq.


    NINA also reports a Mosul roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left three more injured, four bombs ("back to back") left twelve security forces injured, a Tikrit roadside bombing left one municipal court head injured, the Ministry of the Interior announced that 7 suspects were shot dead in Qaim, an attack on Sahwa commander Sheikh Khalid Al-Rashed's Adheim home left him and his son dead, a Falluja armed attack left a military captain injured, a Bahgdad bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left five other people injured (including two soldiers), a Baghdad sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 Ministry of Agriculture employee,  and Ismail al-Tai ("head of the Lawyers Association in Muqdadiyah") was assassinated "on the main road between Muqdadiyah and Baqbua."


    Turning to the topic of protests, Mayada Al Askari (Gulf News) reports:



    As a draft law to regulate demonstrations is currently under discussion in parliament, Iraq’s Minister of Human Rights assured Gulf News that the government is keen on ensuring citizens their constitutional rights.
    Mohammad Shia Al Sudani has denied an outright ban on demonstrations and but insisted some regulations be implemented.
    Currently, all demonstration requests have been rejected by the government and security forces have been cracking down on any rallies that do take place. Iraq accuses some neighbouring countries of backing terrorist groups in the country and encouraging anti-government demonstrations.


    Gulf News has also published excerpts of the interview.



    Mayada Al Askari: On numerous occasions we saw real aggression against unarmed peaceful demonstrators in Baghdad and other places. Perhaps the most recent example was what happened in Dhi Qar. How do you deal with such situations? What is your role in such events?


    Muhammad Shia Al Sudani:  Yes, the ministry noted abuses carried out by security forces in Dhi Qar and Baghdad, and we asked for investigations to punish the offenders. The ministry’s offices and departments completely reject these abuses. The security services should secure any peaceful demonstration in coordination with the organisers and should provide an appropriate atmosphere for citizens to enjoy this constitutional right. We call upon all citizens to raise their demands peacefully and without violence and to coordinate with the concerned authorities.


    It's in that exchange that Al Sudani reveals what a liar he is.  For those who've forgotten what took place in Dhi Qar on August 31st, this is Aswat al-Iraq:

    A number of casualties were reported in mid of Nassiriya city following clashes between SWAT forces and hundreds of demonstrators. 
    The security forces used live bullets to disperse them, as reported to Aswat al-Iraq. 
     Civil activist Bassam al-Jabiri told Aswat al-Iraq that 10 persons were injured for "unjustified use of force by SWAT forces".


    Ten were injured.  But that's not the record.  The record is over 50 dead in one attack on protesters.  The  April 23rd massacre of a sit-in in Hawija which resulted from  Nouri's federal forces storming in.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.   AFP reported the toll had risen to 53 dead.   UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).  No one's been punished, Nouri's had no real investigation despite claiming he would.

    53 killed, 8 of them children.  Nouri is a thug and those who cover for him are as complicit as he is.


    Campaign season continues in Iraq.  NINA reports that National Alliance head Ibrahim al-Jaafari met with Iraqi National Congress head Ahmed Chalabi to discuss 'issues.'All Iraq News adds that State of Law MP Khalid al-Asadi notes that State of Law will nominate Nouri for a third term.

     
    Let's move to the issue of immigration.  Jake Tapper hosts The Lead with Jake Tapper (CNN).  Tapper has Tweeted the following:






  • Lastly,  David DeGraw's calling for crowd sourcing action:



    The last time we all rallied together in a loosely knit collective fashion, the Occupy movement was born and the 99% meme brought the corruption of our political and economic system, along with the grotesque inequality of wealth, into mass consciousness in a profound and lasting way. It was the opening act, the awakening wave.
    Since the Occupy camps were crushed by brutal police state force, the movement has splintered in many different directions. This is now proving to have been a blessing in disguise. It gave us time to learn from our mistakes, figure out what worked best and forced us back into the autonomous actions that built the movement in the first place. We have now experimented with different tactics and thought through longer-term strategies.
    Meanwhile, the repressive conditions that inspired Occupy in the first place have become even more oppressive. Now more than ever, governments no longer have the consent of the governed. A critical mass has lost faith and trust in our existing institutions. The present paradigm has outlived its usefulness. It has been overrun with corruption and rendered obsolete. Our political, economic and legal systems are doing much more to limit our potential than enhance it.


    Let’s pick a three-month span, perhaps throughout this coming spring, and unite our collective actions into an unprecedented Worldwide Wave that cannot be ignored by anyone.
    Let’s crowdsource a relentless global wave of action that protests the corrupt, while also rallying around and celebrating effective alternatives and solutions to the vast problems we are confronted by. Imagine thousands of nonviolent guerrilla armies swarming corrupt targets and rallying for viable solutions for a sustained three-month cycle. If we begin preparing now, a massive spring offensive can lead to a summer of transformation.
    Staying true to the vital nature of the movement, you lead, in your own way. Pick whatever issues concern you most and run with them, knowing that likeminded people throughout the world will also be fighting in solidarity, in whatever way they can, at the same time you are.

    In an attempt to dismiss and undermine us, status quo propagandists will once again criticize us by saying that our message of systemic change is not focused enough or lacks coherent goals. This feeble attempt to keep people from joining in with us will be overcome by our widespread and consistent actions, which will lead by example and inspire the cultural shift in mass consciousness that we urgently need. Our diverse crowdsourced actions will boldly demonstrate our will to expose, fight and overcome tyrannical systems. By rallying around viable solutions and protesting what we are against, the goals and freedoms that we aspire to will organically become self-evident to all.


    I don't think it's a 'feeble attempt.' I think you need to know what you're doing and need to have a message.  We've noted some of David DeGraw above.  What does any of it mean?

    Nothing.  It means nothing.  Get a message, get a plan.  We will not be indulgent again.  People want to know where, what and when.  At the very least you can provide those basics.





     






     




    Bill Ayers wrote another book

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    Jon Wiener has a good review of Bill Ayers new book.  The review is entitled "You Don't Need a Weatherman."

    He has one mistake in it, "He surfaced in the mid-1970s, when the government charges against him were dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct."

    That is incorrect.  Mr. Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn surfaced at the end of 1980 and did so because they thought it would be worse (legal wise) to turn themselves in under Ronald Reagan's presidency.  So they rushed to turn themselves in while Jimmy Carter was still president.  I called C.I. and she said it was December 3, 1980 that the couple turned themselves in.

    Other than that I have no problem with the review.

    I have many problems with the book. It is entitled Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissisdent.

    It should be entitled Pantywaist: My Life As a Trophy Wife.

    Like most people, I am sure, I picked it up assuming this would be the frank memoir.

    I assumed, wrongly, that the many underground threesomes were omitted to keep people's names out of print.

    I wrongly thought this was the one that would document what everyone talked about in the 70s and 80s -- how Mr. Ayers greeted (happily) any and every man Ms. Dohrn brought into their bedroom.

    Often, he was said to continue the affair after Ms. Dohrn had lost interest in the other man.

    I used to wonder how a marriage like that could work?

    I was married at the time and I would picture my husband bringing some man or woman home and I just could not see it going well.  I was genuinely interested in how the couple managed this.

    And Ms. Dohrn was a very exotic figure.

    Mr. Ayers was bland.

    He was another WASP.  A Ryan O'Neal type -- but less attractive and less masculine.

    Ms. Dohrn?  She was the leader of the Weather Underground.  With a little prince at her side who did her bidding.

    And she was a Jew.  (She once labeled herself "an oven Jew.")

    So in my community (the Jewish community), we were forever discussing Ms. Dohrn.

    And I thought she was something worthy of a book or two.

    And maybe he is.

    The rumors of sexual freedom do not make the book.

    Not much reality does.

    Mainly, you have Mr. Ayers on the defensive, attacking everyone, offering half-truths and evasions.

    In fairness to Bill Ayers, we really should not expect that much.  He was not a great thinker or a leading actor.  He was just arm candy, Ms. Dohrn's trophy wife.

    So maybe he should have called this second memoir The Trophy Wife Types?

    That would have let everyone know just how boring the book is.

    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:


    Tuesday, November 19, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue,  Brett McGurk's lies about Iraq to Congress last week get exposed, Camp Ashraf members can sue the US government for failure to protect them, we look again at counter-insurgency, vast areas of Iraq are flooded, US Senator Patty Murray rallies Congress to pass legislation to stop assault in the ranks, and more.




    US Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee and serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  Today her office issued the following:






    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                 CONTACT: Murray Press Office
    November 19, 2013                                                                        (202) 224-2834
     
    MURRAY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST MILITARY SEXUAL ASSAULT
     
    (Washington, D.C.) –Today, as the Senate debates the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) joined a bipartisan group of female Senators on the floor to speak out against sexual assault in the military and call on her colleagues to support some of the historic changes being made to prevent this scourge. Sen. Murray also highlighted her legislation with Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), which has been included in the NDAA bill, to provide trained military lawyers to victims of sexual assault in all service branches.
     
    “When our best and our brightest put on a uniform and join the United States Armed Forces, they do so with the understanding they will sacrifice much in the name of defending our country and its people. But that sacrifice should never have to come in the form of abuse from their fellow service members,” said Senator Murray in her speech. Thanks to bipartisan cooperation, the work of thousands of dedicated advocates, and the voices of countless victims who have bravely spoken out we are poised to make a difference on an issue that women everywhere have brought out of the shadows.”
    In August, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel directed immediate implementation of several measures to “gain greater consistency of effort and enhance oversight, investigative quality, pretrial investigations and victim support” in cases of military sexual assault. Among other measures, the directive includes implementation of trained lawyers to provide victims in all branches with guidance through the legal process, similar to the legislation introduced by Senators Murray and Ayotte.
     
     
    Full text of Senator Murray’s speech below:
    “I first want to thank Senator Mikulski and Senator Collins for helping to bring many of us to the floor today to discuss an issue that: cuts across partisan lines, has plagued our nation’s military, and has gone unaddressed for far too long.
     
    “Military Sexual Assault is an epidemic. And it has rightly been identified as such by the Pentagon. It is absolutely unconscionable that a fellow servicemember, the person you rely on to have your back and to be there for you, would commit such a terrible crime. It is simply appalling they could commit such a personal violation of their brother or sister in uniform. But, what’s worse, and what has made change an absolute necessity - is the prevalence of these crimes.
     
    “Recent estimates tell us that 26,000 servicemembers are sexually assaulted each year. And just over 3,000 of those assaults are reported. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, about one in five female veterans treated by VA has suffered from military sexual trauma. One in five.
     
    “That is certainly not the act of a comrade. It is not in keeping with the ethos of any of the services. And it can no longer be tolerated. And that is why the women of the Senate have been united in calling for action. 
     
    “There has been much made of the fact that there are now 20 women in the Senate – a historic number that I think we all agree still needs to grow. But it’s also important to remember that the number alone should not be what’s historic. Instead, it is what we do with our newfound strength to address the issues that are impacting women across the country. With this bill, the first Defense Authorization of this Congress, we are doing exactly that.
     
    “We are taking historic action to help servicemembers access to the resources they need to seek justice without fear. And, one way this bill will help do just that, how it will: protect our servicemembers, assist victims, and punish criminals -- is through the inclusion of a bill I introduced, across party lines, with Senator Ayotte.
     
    “Our bill, which is included in the base bill, creates a new category of legal advocates, called Special Victims’ Counsels, who would be responsible for advocating on behalf of the interests of the victim. These SVCs would also advise the victim on the range of legal issues they may face. 
     
    “For example, when a young Private First Class is intimidated into not reporting a sexual assault by threatening her with unrelated legal charges -- like underage drinking -- this new advocate would be there to protect her and tell her the truth.
     
    “Since January, the Air Force has provided these advocates to over 500 victims through an innovative new pilot program. Ten months later, the results speak for themselves: 92% of victims are “extremely satisfied” with the advice and support their SVC lent them throughout the military judicial process, 98% would recommend other victims request these advocates, 93% felt that these advocates effectively fought on their behalf.
     
    “In describing their experience with an advocate, one victim shared that, “Going through this was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life. Having a Special Victim Counsel helped tremendously . . . No words could describe how much I appreciate having one of these advocates.”
    “Through our bipartisan efforts the Defense Authorization bill will also enhance the responsibilities and authority of DoD’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office – also known as SAPRO.
     
    “This improvement will help to provide better oversight of efforts to combat military sexual assault across the Armed Forces. SAPRO would also be required to regularly track and report on a range of MSA statistics, including assault rates, the number of cases brought to trial, and  compliance within each of the individual services. 
     
    “Some of this data collection and reporting is already being done.
     
    “So this requirement would not be more burdensome, but it would give that office authority to track and report to us on the extent of the problem.
     
    “I believe the great strength of our military is in the character and dedication of our men and women who wear the uniform. It is the courage of these Americans, to volunteer to serve, that are the Pentagon’s greatest asset. I know it is said a lot, but take a moment to really think about it. 
     
    “Our servicemembers volunteer to face danger, to put their lives on the line, to protect the country and all its people. When we think of those dangers, we think of IEDs. We think of battles with insurgents, we shouldn’t have to focus on the threats they encounter from their fellow servicemember.
     
    “And we should never, never allow for a culture in which the fear of reporting a crime allows a problem like this to fester year after year.
     
    “These are dangers that cannot be accepted, and none of our courageous servicemembers should ever have to face. Earlier this year when I asked Navy Secretary Ray Maybus about the sexual assault epidemic, I was glad that he told me that “concern” wasn’t a strong enough word to describe how he feels about this problem. He said he is angry about it. 
     
    “And I know many of us here, particularly many of my female colleagues who have dedicated so much time to this issue, share this feeling and want to put an end to this epidemic. So, I am hopeful that we can work quickly to do right by our nation’s heroes.
     
    “Because when our best and our brightest put on a uniform and join the United States Armed Forces, they do so with the understanding they will sacrifice much in the name of defending our country and its people. But that sacrifice should never have to come in the form of abuse from their fellow service members.
     
    “I’m proud that the women of the Senate have taken this issue head on. And what should never be lost in the effort to enact the many changes that have been proposed, is that for too long this was an issue that was simply swept under the rug. That’s no longer the case.
     
    “Thanks to bipartisan cooperation, the work of thousands of dedicated advocates, and the voices of countless victims who have bravely spoken out -- we are poised to make a difference on an issue that women everywhere have brought out of the shadows.”
    ###
    ---
    Meghan Roh
    Press Secretary | New Media Director
    Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
    Mobile: (202) 365-1235
    Office: (202) 224-2834



     
     
     
    RSS Feed for Senator Murray's office



    From the Senate, let's note the way the US government spends the money they collect in taxes.  Kristina Wong (Washington Times) reports that while other countries are below poverty level and Iraq rakes in over $100 billion in oil, Iraq remains the target of charity.  Specifically, there's a reconstruction fund that two countries are pulling out of -- but not the United States.  And the US government gave Iraq $470 million of US tax payer dollars in Fiscal Year 2013 and, for Fiscal Year 2014, the US government plans to give $500 million.  This has nothing to do with the $573 million dollar loan -- again these are US tax payer dollars -- the US government is granting Iraq to purchase military weapons.


    There is some concern over all the US tax dollars being poured into Iraq.  Last week,  Brett McGurk, the State Dept's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, appeared  Wednesday before the  US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa (see last week's "Iraq snapshot,""Iraq snapshot" and "Iraq snapshot").





    US House Rep Brad Sherman:  I want to focus on finances.  How much money did we give Iraq this year?  How much do they get from oil?  And are they pumping oil as quickly as they can or are they constraining their production in accordance with OPEC rules?

    Brett McGurk:  In terms of money, we're not really giving Iraq much money at all anymore.  Our assistance levels have gone down dramatically.

    US House Rep Brad Sherman:  But it's still well over a billion?

    Brett McGurk: Uh, no.  I believe that the most recent request is now of under a billion.  It's gone from 1.5 billion last year to, uh, FY13 [Fiscal Year 2013]  to about 880 million.  And I can again brief you on the glide path in terms of our overall presence.  



    The actual request by the State Dept is $1.18 billion.  What Wong's reporting on?  It's in addition to that.   So Wong's reporting $1.073 billion for Iraq in FY14 plus the $1.18 billion the State Dept is requesting for Iraq.


    As we noted last week, Brett McGurk lied to Congress over and over..  Let's stay with that theme for a moment.  Today the UNHCR issued the following:



    The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) calls for renewed efforts from states to relocate former Camp Ashraf residents, also known as Camp New Iraq.
    Since the 1 September 2013 attack on Camp New Iraq where 52 residents died, there has been limited progress in moving the remaining residents to a third country. UNHCR encourages all Member States to share in the international efforts, admit residents and offer them a long-term solution.
    UNHCR and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) also call upon the Government of Iraq to take all possible measures to ensure the safety of the residents. UNHCR and UNAMI remain gravely concerned about the fate of seven missing individuals formerly residing in Camp New Iraq who disappeared on 1 September and call on the authorities to locate them, ensure their wellbeing and safeguard them against any forcible return.
    Since 2011, UNHCR, together with UNAMI, has been engaged in an effort to find relocation opportunities outside Iraq for some 3,200 former residents of Camp New Iraq. In total, UNHCR has so far been able to secure the relocation to third countries of 300 residents.



    As of September, Camp Ashraf in Iraq is empty.  All remaining members of the community have been moved to Camp Hurriya (also known as Camp Liberty).  Camp Ashraf housed a group of Iranian dissidents who were  welcomed to Iraq by Saddam Hussein in 1986 and he gave them Camp Ashraf and six other parcels that they could utilize. In 2003, the US invaded Iraq.The US government had the US military lead negotiations with the residents of Camp Ashraf. The US government wanted the residents to disarm and the US promised protections to the point that US actions turned the residents of Camp Ashraf into protected person under the Geneva Conventions. This is key and demands the US defend the Ashraf community in Iraq from attacks.  The Bully Boy Bush administration grasped that -- they were ignorant of every other law on the books but they grasped that one.  As 2008 drew to a close, the Bush administration was given assurances from the Iraqi government that they would protect the residents. Yet Nouri al-Maliki ordered the camp repeatedly attacked after Barack Obama was sworn in as US President. July 28, 2009 Nouri launched an attack (while then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was on the ground in Iraq). In a report released this summer entitled "Iraqi government must respect and protect rights of Camp Ashraf residents," Amnesty International described this assault, "Barely a month later, on 28-29 July 2009, Iraqi security forces stormed into the camp; at least nine residents were killed and many more were injured. Thirty-six residents who were detained were allegedly tortured and beaten. They were eventually released on 7 October 2009; by then they were in poor health after going on hunger strike."April 8, 2011, Nouri again ordered an assault on Camp Ashraf (then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was again on the ground in Iraq when the assault took place). Amnesty International described the assault this way, "Earlier this year, on 8 April, Iraqi troops took up positions within the camp using excessive, including lethal, force against residents who tried to resist them. Troops used live ammunition and by the end of the operation some 36 residents, including eight women, were dead and more than 300 others had been wounded. Following international and other protests, the Iraqi government announced that it had appointed a committee to investigate the attack and the killings; however, as on other occasions when the government has announced investigations into allegations of serious human rights violations by its forces, the authorities have yet to disclose the outcome, prompting questions whether any investigation was, in fact, carried out."  Those weren't the last attacks.  They were the last attacks while the residents were labeled as terrorists by the US State Dept.  (September 28, 2012, the designation was changed.)   In spite of this labeling, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed that "since 2004, the United States has considered the residents of Camp Ashraf 'noncombatants' and 'protected persons' under the Geneva Conventions."  So the US has an obligation to protect the residents.  3,300 are no longer at Camp Ashraf.  They have moved to Camp Hurriyah for the most part.  A tiny number has received asylum in other countries. Approximately 100 were still at Camp Ashraf when it was attacked Sunday.   That was the second attack this year alone.   February 9th of this year, the Ashraf residents were again attacked, this time the ones who had been relocated to Camp Hurriyah.  Trend News Agency counted 10 dead and over one hundred injured.  Prensa Latina reported, " A rain of self-propelled Katyusha missiles hit a provisional camp of Iraqi opposition Mujahedin-e Khalk, an organization Tehran calls terrorists, causing seven fatalities plus 50 wounded, according to an Iraqi official release."  They were attacked again September 1st.   Adam Schreck (AP) reported that the United Nations was able to confirm the deaths of 52 Ashraf residents.  In addition, 7 Ashraf residents were taken in the assault.  This month, in response to questions from US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee, the  State Dept's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Brett McGurk, stated, "The seven are not in Iraq."



    So today the UNHCR issues a call for action.  It's by no means the first time they've done that and they'll do it again as needed.  But we're not talking about the United Nations, we're talking about Brett McGurk and the US State Dept.




    US House Rep Joseph Wilson:  . . . but a real tragedy has been the murders at Camp Ashraf.  Since December 2008, when our government turned over the protections of the  camp to the Iraqi government, Prime Minister Maliki has repeatedly assured the world that he would treat the residents humanely and also that he would protect them from harm.  Yet it has not kept the promise promise as 111 people have been killed  in cold blood and more than a thousand wounded in five attacks including the September 1st massacre, what is the United States doing to prevent further attacks and greater loss of life in terms of ensuring the safety and security of the residents



    Brett McGurk:  Congressman, first let me say thank you for your-your service and your family's service.  Speaking for myself and my team who've spent many years in Iraq and have known many friends we've lost in Iraq, it's something we think about every day and it inspires our work and our dedication to do everything possible to succeed under very difficult circumstances.  Regarding Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, the only place for the MEK and the residents of Camp Liberty to be safe is outside of Iraq.  Camp Liberty is a former US military base  We lost Americans, right nearby  there, as late as the summer of 2010.  We lost a number of Americans to rocket fire and indirect fire attacks and our embassy compounds were the most secure facilities  in the country as late as the summer of 2010, that was when we had about 60,000 troops in the country in the country doing everything that they possibly could do to hunt down the rocket teams that we knew were targeting us.  Uh, there are cells in Iraq  -- we believe directed and inspired from Iran -- which are targeting the MEK, there's no question about that.  And the only place for the MEK to be safe is outside of Iraq.  That is why the State Dept and the Secretary have appointed a colleague of mine, Jonathan Winer, to work this issue full time. to find a place for them to go. Right now, there's about 2900 residents at Camp Liberty and Albania's taken in about 210, Germany's agreed to take in 100 and that's it.  We need to find a place for these - these people to go.  It is an urgent and humanitarian issue, an international humanitarian crisis.  And I went to the camp to meet with the survivors, to speak with the families, and what they told me and I promised them to do everything I possibly could to get them to safety.  Uh, it is incumbent upon the Iraqi government to do everything it possibly can to to keep them safe -- and that means the T-walls and the sandbags and everything else.  Uh, but the only place for the residents to be safe is outside Iraq.  Since the tragic attacks at Camp Liberty on September 1st 1300 Iraqis were killed, 52 people were massacred at Camp Ashraf.  This was a tragic, horrifying act.  But since then, 1300 Iraqis in the country have been killed.  The country is incredibly dangerous and the MEK, to be safe, have to leave Iraq and we want to find a place for them to go.  


    "It's an urgent and humanitarian issue, an international humanitarian crisis," insisted McGurk to Congress last week.

    And the State Dept supposedly takes the issue seriously.


    Supposedly.

    It was the UNHCR fueling the conversation on the Ashraf community today.  Not the State Dept.  They issued no statement.  They didn't even raise the issue at their press briefing today.

    Or yesterday.


    Or Friday.


    Or Thursday.

    Or Wednesday -- the day McGurk testified to Congress.


    Or . . .


    Do we see the pattern?

    McGurk lies to Congress last week claiming that the US is providing leadership and raising awareness but it's done nothing on the most basic terms.

    They only hired a person in the middle of September to oversee the issue in response to the over-fifty deaths and 7 kidnappings.

    And, here's a little info the administration doesn't want the MEK thinking about, due to the Geneva obligations the US government owes to Camp Ashraf residents, the US government is now legally liable.  It didn't honor international law -- law which the US signed onto -- so survivors of the dead can file charges -- international court would be the best place, since this is international law -- against the US government and so could the families of the kidnapped.


    Considering the fact that the US government's reputation is mud on the world stage thanks to all the wars and all the illegal spying, international courts could be harsh on the US.


    And when the US didn't provide security?


    People probably grasp this because the law is so rarely reported on.

    The US government is liable.

    People get hurt all the time!


    Yes, indeed they do.

    But, under Geneva, the US was supposed to guarantee the safety of these people.


    And the US government can't even argue human error, act of god or any other legal claims.


    That's because the US stationed no one, not one person, to protect the residents.  But that was the US obligation.  And they failed to honor it and people died as a result.


    That's a lot of money.

    Most likely, the US would reject any legal finding -- which would just demonstrate, even more, to the global community that the US government has no respect for the law.

    In other words, if I were MEK, I'd be looking for a lawyer to file charges right away.


    To get rich?  No.  To force the US government to address the 7 hostages and get them out of harm's way.


    And, FYI, the court to file in would, in fact be, the International Court of Justice. -- it has jurisdiction over Geneva issues.



    Starting to get why the US government should have gotten off its lazy ass years ago?  The only thing McGurk got right was what we've said for years: They're not safe, they need to be out of Iraq.

    When then-Secretary of Hillary Clinton refused to comply with a federal court order, we started noting the reality that the minute the Ashraf community was out of Iraq, the US was no longer obligated under Geneva to provide protection.  It's a shame that the US government refused to honor its obligation but its even more of a shame -- legally -- that it didn't honor its agreement and over 50 people were killed and 7 kidnapped.  That's on the US government.

    And when you're legally liable, little news flash here for the White House, you work every day to get the people you are liable for out of Iraq so that you're no longer liable.  There are 2900 to resettle out of Iraq currently.  The State Dept needs to get to work.

    Let's move to another US government failure, counter-insurgency.  Richard Sisk (DoD Buzz) reports:



    The vaunted counter-insurgency (COIN) strategy promoted by retired Gen. David Petraeus that guided the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has come under renewed and caustic criticism from one of its reluctant practitioners, both as a general and diplomat.
    “In short, COIN failed in Afghanistan,” said Karl Eikenberry, the retired Army lieutenant general and former chief of Combined Forces Command Afghanistan who was later U.S. Ambassador to Kabul.


    Counter-insurgency -- sometimes spelled today counterinsurgency -- has a long and damaging history.  It is war on a native people, it is colonization.  It failed repeatedly in Vietnam -- whether the French pursued or the US did.  It was a failure in terms of accomplishing anything other than murdering innocents.

    It was a failure and a world-wide stigma which is why the US military walked away from it.

    Then a series of bloody thirsty War Whores like Petreaus, Sarah The Sewer Sewall, Samantha A Problem From Hell, Montgomery McFate and so many others worked to sell this brutal, xeonphobic War Crime and idiots like George Packer quickly enlisted to try to popularize it.  At the end of last month, Andrew Gavin Marshall (Dissident Voice) wrote about counter-insurgency:



     Prior to the surge, Petraeus was initially sent to Iraq in 2004 given the responsibility of training “a new Iraqi police force with an emphasis on counterinsurgency.” While in Iraq, Petraeus worked with a retired Colonel named Jim Steele, who was sent to Iraq as a personal envoy of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. Steele acquired a name for himself in ‘counterinsurgency’ circles having led the U.S. Special Forces training of paramilitary units in El Salvador in the 1980s, where he turned them into efficient and highly effective death squads waging a massive terror war against the leftist insurgency and the population which supported them, resulting in the deaths of roughly 70,000 people.1
    Jim Steele had to leave a promising military career after his involvement with the Iran-Contra scandal – trading arms to the Iranians for their war against Iraq to finance the death squads in Central America – and so he naturally turned to the private sector. But he had so impressed a Congressman named Dick Cheney, that when Cheney was Vice President, he and Rumsfeld maintained a cozy relationship with Steele who was then sent to Iraq in 2003 to help train the Iraqi paramilitary forces. Steele, working with David Petraeus and others, helped establish “a fearsome paramilitary force” which was designed to counter the Sunni insurgency which had developed in reaction to the U.S. invasion and occupation, running ruthless death squads which helped plunge the country into a deep civil war. Petraeus’ role in helping to create some of Iraq’s most feared death squads was revealed in a 2013 Guardian investigation. 2
    However, in 2005, the Pentagon had openly acknowledged that it was considering employing “the Salvador option” in Iraq in order “to take the offensive against the insurgents.” John Negroponte, who had been the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras when the U.S. was running death squads out of Honduras in Central America was, in 2005, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. The Pentagon and the CIA were considering what roles they could play, possibly using U.S. Special Forces, to help train Iraqi “death squads” to hunt down and kill “insurgents.” 3
    Within the first three years of the Iraq war and occupation, the British medical journal, The Lancet, published research indicating that between 2003 and 2006, an estimated 650,000 – 940,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the war. 4 A survey from 2008 indicated that there had been more than one million deaths in Iraq caused by the war. 5
    This is referred to as a “counterinsurgency” strategy. In 2006, General Petraeus wrote the forward to the Department of the Army’s Field Manual on Counterinsurgency, in which he noted that, “all insurgencies, even today’s highly adaptable strains, remain wars amongst the people.” 6 A 1962 U.S. counterinsurgency guide for the U.S. war in Vietnam said it even more bluntly when it noted that, “The ultimate and decisive target is the people… Society itself is at war and the resources, motives, and targets of the struggle are found almost wholly within the local population.”7






    Iraq Body Count notes that, through yesterday, there have been 412 violent deaths in Iraq.  National Iraqi News Agency reports an armed attack in Mosul left 2 Iraqi soldiers dead, a Mosul bombing claimed the life of 1 young girl and left eight other members of her family injured, 1 military officer was killed in a Mosul clash, "two members of Facilities Protection" were shot dead in Mosul, a Mosul roadside bombing left four people injured (three were police), a Balad Ruz sticky bombing claimed the life of Muhammad Al-Khalidi's secretary, an Aanah roadside bombing left one person injured, and, as they conducted terrorizing raids in Tarmiya, a bomb claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left three more injured.



    The rains continue in Iraq.  All Iraq News reports a four-year-old boy in Hilla died from the rains.  Alsumaria notes the Dhi Qar Provincial Council shut down on government operations -- including schools -- for Tuesday and Wednesday as a result of the heavy rains and flooding throughout southern Iraq.  Alsumaria also reported the Dhi Qar Provincial Council was asking Nouri for 200 billion dinars to address the flooding.  Dar Addustour reports that Nouri and the Cabinet of Ministers state they'll give 200 billion dinars to each province effected by the flooding.  Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports there is a current rush to restore the damns in southern Iraq to prevent a repeat of last year's massive flooding.  If Iraq had a real leader -- and not Nouri al-Maliki -- these dams would have been restored in the dry season and there'd be no mad dash, a year later, to fix what should have already been addressed.  Safaa Abdel-Hamid and Mohammed al-Mah (Alsumaria) reports that Anbar Province's civil defense directorate is warning Anbar residents that the flooding could be dangerous for another reason -- landmines.  Flooding could transport the land mines and flooding could also conceal them leading someone to step into the water and onto a landmine.  Last April, UNICEF noted:


    It is estimated that more than 1,730 square kilometers of land in Iraq is contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordinance, affecting 1.6 million Iraqis in around 4,000 communities across the country.
    Of these, nearly one million children are affected by the presence of landmines with hundreds having been maimed or killed by exploded cluster bomblets since 1991. The most recent Iraqi child victimized is a twelve year old boy who lost one eye and both his hands from a munition that exploded when he was herding sheep near Basra in March, 2013. 



    Dar Addustour reports Baghdad is flooded -- by rain and by lack of proper sewage, let's remember Nouri's been prime minister since 2006 and Baghdad's public sewage hasn't been updated since the 1970s -- and is expected to be tomorrow as well.  (You can use the link to see the photos of cars trying to navigate a flooded road.)  Kitabat notes that the lack of public works to address the (expected) heavy rains have led to flooding and that people are heading to schools across Iraq seeking protection from the floods.  Kitabat also notes that the leader of Sadr's bloc in Parliament is calling for Nouri to appear before the Parliament to answer questions as to what was done to prepare for the season's heavy rains.

    Could this have been anticipated?  Dropping back to December 26th of last year:

    All Iraq News notes that Baghdad is receiving the most rainfall it's seen in thirty years. Alsumaria adds that the last days alone have seen the amount of rainfall Baghdad usually receives in a full year (note the picture of the three men walking down the street with water up to their knees). Kitabat notes that the rain is destroying the infrastructure (check out the photo of the man who's apparently  trying to get home with bags of groceries).
    This is not just due to rainfall.  This is also the result of Iraq's crumbling infrastructure -- infrastructure Nouri al-Maliki has had six years to address and he's done nothing.
    Alsumaria notes yesterday's rains have caused 3 deaths and two people to be injured in Baghdad -- two deaths from a house collapsing due to the rain and one from electrical death (with two more injured in that as well) and that main streets in the capital are sinking.   All Iraq News notes Baghdad has been placed on high alert because of the torrential rains.
    You could mistake Baghdad for Venice in this All Iraq News photo essay which notes that students are forced to walk through the high standing water to get to schools.   They also note of Tuesday's rainfall:  Baghdad had the most yesterday (67 mm) followed by Hilla, Azizia and Karbala (rainfall was also recorded in Samawa, Rifai and Basra -- of those three, Basra was the highest and Baghdad's rainfall was three times Basra's).   It's not just Baghdad.  Alsumaria notes that after ten house collapses in Wasit Province village, the Iraqi Red Crescent began evacuating the entire village. Dar Addustour notes Nouri issued a statement yesterday that he's going to oversee a committee that will try to address the situation.



    Yes, none of what's going on in Iraq right now is a surprise and had Nouri really addressed the situation as he claimed he was doing last December, Iraqis wouldn't be suffering as much as they are today.






    the washington times








    Harriet Fraad remembers how the women's movement was harmed

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    With Gloria Steniem accepting an award instead of, as she should have, refusing it, I was reminded of an article in Tikkun a few years back.  I went up to the attic, but could not find it.  I looked online and found the article.  This is from Harriet Fraad's "The Pursuit of Happiness: 2011" where she reflects on the feminist movement she was a part of:


    One of the women’s movement’s largest mistakes was its failure to maintain its original insistence on class justice as well as gender justice. Whatever class consciousness our movement had was usurped by successful organizing under the clever leadership of the CIA operative Gloria Steinem (for the most recent documentation of this, read Charles Trueheart’s Bloomberg article, “What Gloria Steinem and Henry Kissinger Have in Common: CIA Pay” and The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America by Hugh Wilford). Many were and still are shocked to learn of Steinem’s CIA connections. They have been kept from wide publication until recently and of course they were never reported on television. These facts were first unearthed in Ramparts magazine in March 1967, as part of a revelation of the CIA’s role in international youth festivals (“Who Paid the Piper”). They were followed by later revelations in The Village Voice in 1979, which exposed Steinem’s particular role within the CIA and the Women’s Liberation Movement (“Inside the CIA with Gloria Steinem” by Nancy Borman, May 21, 1979). Steinem’s voice was never the only voice in the feminist movement. However, her rich funding and expertise combined with our naïveté to blunt the impact of class awareness and power for the mass of U.S. women.

    The mainstream feminist movement thus became a movement for gender equality within our current increasingly unequal America. It lost its mass base and class dimension. It devolved into separate issue projects of importance to the female gender, such as groups for abortion rights (for those who can pay for abortions), and legislation to help women, particularly those with education, to enter previously male professions. Three-quarters of working women, particularly uneducated women, still work in pink-collar jobs.

    Larger women’s groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) worked to pass legislation protective of women. They lobbied for pro-female legislation within our highly unrepresentative two-capitalist-party system. The feminist movement became a series of projects working for equality with men. We achieved near equality for women within the American system of gross inequality. We lost our vision of a just, equitable society for all people.

    Poor Gloria Steinem.  If she had ever stood for anything other than herself, she would have stepped down long ago.  Instead, she has spent six decades being the media feminist, blocking the way for other women, and for women who did not work for the CIA.

    Poor fake Gloria Steinem.

    Such a fraud.  I guess it is fitting that, as she gets close to 80, the secrets begin to emerge and the world can begin to see how she appropriated and, yes, abused feminism.

    Some of you may listen to Law and Disorder Radio, and, if so, you have probably heard Ms.Fraad's husband, Professor Richard D. Wolff on the program. He is an economics professor.

    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    Wednesday, November 20, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, the rains continue in Iraq, while the president of Iraq remains in Germany his bodyguard is killed in Iraq, some of the remains of one of the fallen are headed back to a family, Senators Patty Murray and Kirsten Gillibrand fight for the children of military families, two journalists and a self-described one accept medals of 'honor' from the man who's going after James Risen and the Associated Press and whistle-blowers and . . . , and more.



    Starting with events in the United States.  Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee and serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  Her office issued the following noting the efforts of Murray and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on behalf of the children of military families:





    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                        CONTACT: Murray Press Office (202) 224-2834
    Wednesday, November 20th, 2013                                          Gillibrand Press Office (202) 224-3873
     
     
    TRICARE: Murray, Gillibrand Amendment Guarantees Health Coverage for Military Children With Developmental Disabilities
     
    Despite state laws that require behavioral health coverage in 34 states, military health plans deny care to many military children with disabilities  
     
     
    (Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which would ensure that military families’ health plans provide adequate coverage for children and loved ones with disabilities.  The amendment requires TRICARE, the Department of Defense health program for members of the military and their families, to provide coverage for behavioral health treatments, including applied behavior analysis (ABA).   
     
    Under current TRICARE policies, many children are denied coverage for ABA and critical behavioral health treatments, and those children who do receive care often receive less than the prescribed treatment.  That places TRICARE behind the curve of thirty-four states and the District of Columbia, which require private insurers to cover ABA as a medically necessary service for most children with a developmental disability.  The U.S. Office of Personnel Management also categorizes ABA as a "medical therapy” and covers ABA for federal employees’ dependents.
     
    A one-page summary of the legislation is available here.
     
    “Every parent of a child with a disability wants to do everything they can to provide the best care, but for military parents dealing with overseas deployments and frequent moves from state to state, the challenge to access quality care is even greater,” said Senator Murray. “The least we can do for our service men and women is provide quality health care for their loved ones, and this amendment ensures that promise extends to children with disabilities, too.”
    “It is alarming that our military families who have sacrificed so much are denied essential services for their children suffering from autism and other developmental disabilities,”saidSenator Gillibrand. “This legislation will help ensure that our military families have access to the critical services, care and support they desperately need and deserve.”
    Behavioral health treatments for children with developmental disabilities are widely recognized as effective therapies that can help children learn the skills to be successful in school, live independently, and find meaningful employment.  However, despite the widely-recognized benefits of these treatments, they are not always available for families who receive their health care through TRICARE.  The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Institute of Mental Health support behavioral health parity so that evidence based therapies can be accessed by children and youth with developmental disabilities. This includes systematic application of ABA for children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities.
     
    Organizations supporting the Murray-Gillibrand amendment include:
    Military Officers Association of America, National Military Family Association, Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service, VetsFirst, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Autism Speaks, Easter Seals, Association of University Centers on Disabilities, The Arc, Autism National Committee, National Down Syndrome Society, ACCSES, ADHD Aware, American Dance Therapy Association, American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, American Association on Health and Disability, Brain Injury Association of America, Epilepsy Foundation, Family Voices, Health & Disability Advocates, Lutheran Services in America Disability Network, Mental Health America, National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, National Association of State Directors of Special Education, National Organization on Disability, National Council on Independent Living, Physician-Parent Caregivers, and School Social Work Association of America.
     
     
    ###
     
     
    Sean Coit
    Press Secretary
    Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
    202-224-2834
     





     
     
     
    RSS Feed for Senator Murray's office




    Senators Murray and Gillibrand deserve strong applause for their efforts.

    Successful efforts have helped to bring some closure for a military family.  Dropping back to February 28th:


    KCBD reports the family of Major Troy Gilbert has learned that the Pentagon will "resume" their search for Gilbert who died in Iraq while using his plane to provide cover for US soldiers on the ground who were under attack. When his plane crashed, fighters took Gilbert's body from the plane and a year later, in 2007, his body showed up as a prop in a propaganda video. Ariel Walden (KFYO) reports that his parents received the news last Friday. Jim Douglas (WFAA) offers a video report on the news, speaking with the parents, widow Ginger Gilbert Ravella and government officials. Excerpt.

    Jim Douglas: The last time we saw Kaye Gilbert she was crying because the government told her that her son's case was closed, that no one would look for the remains of Major Troy Gilbert in Iraq.

    Kaye Gilbert: Please, please help us get him home.

    Jim Douglas: Now they will.

    Kaye Gilbert: You cry when you're sad and you cry when you're happy. But today is a happy, happy day.

    Jim Douglas: Air Force and MIA officials told the Gilbert's their son's case is so extraordinary that an Undersecretary of Defense to give it special consideration. The first time that's ever been done.


    So they've reopened the search. And did so Friday. 


    Today Joel Fortner (Air Force News) reports that more of the remains of Troy Gilbert were discovered.  His widow Ginger Gilbert-Ravella tells Fortner, "We have prayed for this for almost seven years and we've never given up hope nor will we ever give up.  We have always known finding Troy's remains would be akin to finding a needle in a haystack or a grain of sand at the beach.  Though our deepest desire is that his entire body would be returned to the US, we are grateful for this."


    Still with the US, we're getting to the fakery of today.  Before we do, let's note   US political prisoner Lynne Stewart  remains behind bars.  For the 'crime' of issuing a press release, she was eventually tossed in prison.  The 'crime' happened on Attorney General Janet Reno's watch.  Reno has her detractors who think she was far too tough as Attorney General.  She also has her supporters who see her as a moderate.  No one saw her as 'soft.'  Reno had her Justice Department review what happened.  There was no talk of a trial because there was no crime.  No law was broken.  The Justice Department imposes guidelines -- not written by Congress, so not laws -- on attorneys.  Lynne was made to review the guidelines and told not to break it again.  That was her 'punishment' under Janet Reno.  Bully Boy Bush comes into office and the already decided incident becomes a way for Attorney General John Ashcroft to try to build a name for himself. He goes on David Letterman's show to announce, after 9-11, that they're prosecuting Lynne for terrorism.


    Eventually tossed in prison?  Even Bully Boy Bush allowed Lynne to remain out on appeal.  It's only when Barack Obama becomes president that Lynne gets tossed in prison.  It's only under Barack that the US Justice Depart disputes the judge's sentence and demands a harsher one (under the original sentence Lynne would be out now).  Lynne's cancer has returned.

    She needs to be home with her family.  Her time is limited and it needs to be spent with her loved ones.  Lynne's a threat to no one -- not today, not ten years ago.  She's a 73-year-old grandmother who has dedicated her life to being there for people who would otherwise have no defenders.  Even now in prison, she shows compassion towards those who have had none for her.  Barack Obama needs to order her immediate release.  If he fails to do so, then it should be a permanent stain on his record.

    Back in September on Black Agenda Radio (airs each Monday at 4:00 pm EST on the Progressive Radio Network),  hosted by Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford, Glen spoke with attorney David Gespass about efforts to help Lynne.


    Glen Ford:  People's lawyer Lynne Stewart continues to fight for a compassionate release from prison where she's serving a ten year sentence for zealously defending her client.  Stewart is suffering Stage IV breast cancer but the Obama administration has turned down all of her pleas to be released to her family and doctors.  In Birmingham, Alabama, we spoke with David Gespass, a former president of the National Lawyers Guild.


    David Gespass:  My initial position was she never should have been convicted in the first place and certainly should not have gotten the kind of draconian sentence she did.  But beyond that, I think even under the old guidelines, she was entitled to compassionate release given the severe nature of her health and the cost to the government to provide care that would otherwise be provided with her family at home.  Given the new guidelines -- and I think the only possible reason not to release her would be just pure vindictiveness. 


    Glen Ford:  Lynne Stewart suffering Stage IV breast cancer is certainly no danger to anybody's community.


    David Gespass:  And she was never much of a danger to begin with other than the fact that she was a really vigorous advocate for the clients that she represented.  At this point, she can't practice law because of the conviction.  There is nothing that could cause any harm by her release and an enormous amount of harm could be caused by her staying in prison.



    Glen Ford:  Lynne Stewart is in prison because she was a zealous defender of her client.



    David Gespass:  That's exactly right.



    Glen Ford:  Isn't that the lawyer's job?



    David Gespass:  Absolutely.  And I think her prosecution was a warning to defense lawyers that they should not do their jobs as vigorously as they are required Constitutionally to do -- particularly in cases involving allegations of so-called 'terrorism.'



    Glen Ford:  So zealotry in defense of, oh, a Wall Street firm is quite alright?



    David Gespass:  That's exactly right.  And defense of police officers.  It seems that the only pro criminal defense rulings that we get from judges these days are for members of Congress and police officers.



    Glen Ford:  Have you seen a chill among the ranks of progressive leaning attorneys?


    David Gespass:  On the contrary.  I think that for most people who have seen this -- it's sort of redoubled their efforts not to be intimidated.  And I think that as much as that was what the government's aim was, I just don't think they succeeded.  And I think that the outpouring of support for Lynne during her trial and since then really indicates that people who are advocates for the poor and the disenfranchised are not going to be intimidated and are going to continue the struggle.  And I think that's particularly evident in the Guantanamo cases and the work that defense lawyers have done there.

    Glen Ford:   Lynne Stewart's case is as political as you get and I guess the decision not to allow her compassionate release was determined at the highest political levels.

    David Gespass:  Undoubtedly.  You know, if this were a routine case, I think that, under the circumstances, compassionate release would have been almost automatic.  Of course, this administration has been particularly unwilling to show any compassion to anyone convicted of a crime.  So it's on some level not shocking that they're not going to stick their necks out for Lynne because they won't do it for people getting fifty years for selling an ounce of marijuana or something.


    Glen Ford:  Yes, in terms of administrations, how does this one rank on the compassionate scale?

    David Gespass:  I'd say at the bottom.  This administration has yet to pardon a single convict.  And I think that's probably a first.  Given particularly now when people are talking about how draconian and counter-productive these mandatory minimum sentences are for drug offenses especially, the fact that this administration refuses to even consider releasing people who have been low level involvement in drug transactions that have gotten these absurdly long sentences, it's just indicative of either just meanness or political cowardice.

    Glen Ford:  So in terms of law and order administrations, this Obama administration could be categorized as the most law and order in our memory?


    David Gespass:  Yes  if one wants to consider law and order as locking more people up for longer periods of time, I suppose.  And they've also deported more undocumented immigrants than anyone in history.  And the attacks on the administration for not doing enough are just so frivolous under the circumstances. They've been terrible about it.




    Dropping back to last week's  Law and Disorder Radio,  an hour long program that airs Monday mornings at 9:00 a.m. EST on WBAI and around the country throughout the week, hosted by attorneys Heidi Boghosian, Michael S. Smith and Michael Ratner (Center for Constitutional Rights).  Heidi Boghosian read the letter Lynne wrote for the National Lawyers Guild convention last month in San  Juan, Puerto Rico.



    Brothers and Sisters of the National Lawyers Guild
    I wanted to send you this most important Health Bulletin–Not Personal (pause) but on the steady evisceration of the Right to Counsel, the bulwark of all we do.  Within the last weeks, a suspect was forcibly detained for crimes against the US.  He was taken from Libya to an offshore (ship?) where he was being interrogated, read tortured.  When the Public Defenders of the Southern District of New York, where his case is ostensibly pending, attempted to have counsel appointed for him, they were turned down in no uncertain terms by Judges using the now all too common weasel words.  But this is not a new phenomenon–it is apparent over and over again and the question remains–what are WE, who claim to be the last protection against an overreaching state going to do about it?
    How important is this ?  I need to tell a couple of anecdotes about lawyering–my dear deceased friend Bill Kunstler in the tumultuous years in which the FBI-JTTF was rounding up the remnants of the Underground, Sekou Odinga, a member of the Black Panthers and then the Black Liberation Army, related to me that he had been detained in a Queens NYC precinct for many hours, was being water boarded by the police in one of the toilets, and was really feeling it badly when all at once he heard the booming voice of the Great Kunstler echoing through the hallways demanding to see his client and he knew that he had been saved.   The other story was one that I told at an earlier convention and a young lawyer from San Diego wrote to tell me that it had turned her life around.  After my arrest, Ralph and I were stuck in Manhattan traffic, when a bicycle messenger pulled up and tapped on my window.  When I opened it he said in an excited and joyous voice “You THE Lawyer !!  You the LAWYER !!!   Indeed I was and Indeed it was and is my greatest ambition and accomplishment to be THE lawyer.
    Back in the day and I mean way back, when this adversary system had its origins, the accused had the right to select a champion to fight for their rights and I mean fight–jousting, swordplay, mace and chain -- ok perhaps a little hyperbole, BUT the message is clear -- we were hired for our brawn as well as brains, our courage as well as legal acumen.  We need to get courage and creativity in combat, back into the equation.   It’s not about schmoozing the prosecution or the Judge.  How many courtrooms have I walked into where there was not one friendly face -- there was just me and the client ?  Even the stenographers were hostile !  And that's ok because I was there for only one reason, the one I took an oath to zealously pursue, the defense of my client.  Was it fearsome personally?  Of course.  But to do otherwise was more so.
    I urge everyone to return to the days of robust lawyering.  Be Bill Kunstler in the precinct.  Be “THE LAWYER” .  Be the champion who defends fearlessly.  When I say that the right to counsel is being eviscerated I mean that the forces of the empire are very busy removing the nerves, the hearts and guts of the Fifth Amendment and leaving it a shell of what it was and can be.  We are the opposition that need to gather our shields and swords in its defense and be selfless and brave. Let us press forward.  Instead of the derision we often face, let us all strive to be “the Lawyer” respected and honored.




    And Law and Disorder Radio notes these phone numbers you can use to show your support for Lynne.




  • Phone Campaign For Lynne Stewart To Be Let Out Of Prison Under Compassionate Release
  • Director of Federal Bureau of Prisons – 202-307-3250
  • U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder – 202-353-1555
  • U.S. President Barack Obama – 202-456-1111



  • You could show support for Lynne by calling those numbers.  Or you could just refuse a piece-of-crap award.

    Bill Clinton got an award today.  I don't begrudge him.  After all the lies and attacks Barack Obama launched on Bill in 2008, I don't begrudge Bill enjoying the moment where Barack praises him in public.  Sports figures?  I could care less.  But there are three people who should have turned down that damn 'honor.'

    Ben Bradlee says he's a journalist; however, a journalist doesn't accept an award from a president who's declared war on the press and illegally spies on them.  Ben Bradlee disgraces himself more than he did a few decades back when he was having sex on a front lawn.  Ben has a nice face, he's never had a nice body.  No one needed to see that.   No one.  Let's move on.

    There's Gloria Steinem.  Trina left the following up at Ms.:




    I would expect Ms. Steinem to turn down the ‘honor’ in the name of political prisoners such as Chelsea Manning and Lynne Stewart and the US government’s attacks on NSA whistle-blower Ed Snowden and other whistle blowers, as well as due to the spying on the Associated Press and due to the government’s attacks on NYT reporter James Risen. This is not a secret or hidden knowledge.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/obama-whistleblower-prosecutions-press_n_3091137.html
    In addition to The Huffington Post, Mother Jones, The Sunlight Foundation and many others have reported on it.
    As a young woman in the 70s, I saw Gloria Steinem as the face of truth and justice.
    That she would take an award from a government waging wars and spying on the American people is deeply disturbing. That the attacks on the press do not bother journalist Gloria Steinem is very sad.




    For that, Trina's been attacked.  She asked me not to go after the idiot here.  So I'll instead just note, here's the thing about feminism, it doesn't mean being a doormat.  I know Gloria's misled millions of women, but feminism is not about being a doormat.  It's also not, "Oh, someone insulted Gloria!  I must attack!"

    Gloria enriched herself financially with feminism.  I've known Gloria for decades.  We were friends until 2008 when I cut her out of my life.  I know all the lies.  Like, "Gloria didn't get rich off feminism!"

    Yes, she did.  It turns out feminism wasn't that profitable so Gloria's not Donald Trump, but she sure as hell got wealthy off it.  There are many feminists who did not get wealthy.   Kathie Sarachild did not get rich. Gloria's cult did manage to shut Kathie out of most feminist encounters and attempted to remove her from the movement.  At some point, Gloria could have called them off.  But repeatedly, she's played innocent and stayed silent as various women were drummed out of the movement if they dared to question The Doctrine of Gloria.

    She also worked for the CIA as a college student.  She says she didn't after.  For years, I believed that.  In 2008, I took the blinders off and found out a lot about Gloria.  I have no idea whether she did or didn't work for the CIA but the fact that she lied so often and so repeatedly means I don't trust a word out of her mouth anymore.

    In 2008, a lot of people wanted to get involved in the Democratic Party primaries.  Those attempting to influence my political party needed to be of my political party or they needed to identify themselves for what they really were.  If they're endorsing a candidate, we have a right to know if they're a Democrat or not.  Here, I outed conservatives, I outed Communists and I outed Socialists.  The Democratic Party primary is supposed to be where we pick who are candidate will be.

    As I went along, I was confronted by a friend with Barack's campaign who stated that I was giving Gloria a pass because she supported Hillary.  No, I wasn't outing her because she'd lied to me for years and I'd stupidly believed her -- even, at first, accusing my friend with Barack's campaign of more dirty tricks.  But he backed it up and then some.

    Gloria's a Socialist.

    And she injected herself into the Democratic Party primary.  As she had done for years.  Her actions in 1976, for example, on behalf of the Democratic Party were called out by feminists.  Looking back, and I called her out on her actions, I don't know what to say.  Except, even now, I'm shocked that a Socialist would so whore herself out for the Democratic Party.


    Gloria's betrayed feminism repeatedly. She's there to reap the rewards of press attention but a serious examination of her actions demonstrates she hijacked a movement to turn it into her fan club.  One of her worst acts, most cowardly and now most damaging, was hiding the fact that she's a Socialist.


    There's nothing wrong with being a Socialist.

    But for her to tie that deception onto the movement, to make it appear that Socialism is something to hide or be ashamed of?

    She's created the groundwork for those who insist feminism is a secret plot or a lie or trickery to now have their 'proof.' She owes many apologies to the feminist movement.  First and foremost, as she gears up for her 80th birthday, she needs to make public that she's a Socialist and apologize for deceiving the public all these years.  She also owes a big apology to Socialism because by hiding in a political closet, she prevented many women and men from considering as a viable option.

    At Third, We wrote about how Gloria needed to refuse the award in "Editorial: Little Gloria, hypocrisy at last." In it, we gave Oprah a pass because who believes a word Oprah says?

    But then a White House friend told me Oprah asked that she be described at the event as a "journalist." Reality TV and talk shows do not make you a "journalist." Using your bad talk show to sell the Iraq War does not make you a journalist.  In 'honor' of Oprah and her 'journalism' and to 'honor' her selling of  the Iraq War and booking her 'friend' Judith Miller, let's note and quote Joan Rivers from her latest comedy film, Don't Start With Me.

    Joan Rivers: Right.  Oprah and Gayle.  Just 'good friends.' Okay, whatever.  Perhaps.   All I know is I don't lick my best friend's vagina.  That's all I know.  My good friend is Margie Stern.  I don't say, "Margie [sticks out tongue and licks], let's go to Macys. [Sticks out tongue and licks.]  Then we'll have a pedicure.  [Sticks out tongue and licks.] Lunch."


    History is full of betrayers and deceivers who lied to the people in order to be honored by the royal courts.  Ben Bradlee, Gloria Steinem and Oprah are the only latest in a centuries old embarrassment.

    Monday, The Huffington Post reported:


    James Risen, the New York Times reporter ordered to testify against a confidential source, called on journalists to fight back against government's attacks on press freedom.
    He currently faces jail time if he refuses to testify against Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA agent charged with leaking classified information. Risen spoke at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism on Thursday where, according to the Daily Californian, he said it was time for journalists to “surrender or fight.”
    Risen — who has spoken out against the government before — said that the war on leaks threatens the integrity of the press and its reporting. “The basic issue is, can we continue as journalists to protect and offer the confidentiality to someone who knows something going on in the government but doesn’t want to go public?” he said. 



    But tonight, journalists Ben Bradlee and Gloria Steinem -- as well as 'journalist' Oprah Winfrey -- elected to accept a Presidential Medal of Honor.

    There is no honor among whores.


    The ISO (International Socialist Organization) has decreed that there will be support for Syrian rebels.  That's why Gloria and Women's Media Center keep pimping war on Syria, for those who are confused.  There's no independence for Gloria, just marching orders she takes from an organization which is known this year, certainly, for its non-stop attacks on women.  That's not feminism.

    I have no respect for the ISO. If you're interested in learning about socialism, you'd be better off, in the US, following WSWS where they do maintain a set of ethics and don't whore for war when a Democratic President wants it.

    Naomi Klein, when she was still new to the scene, foolishly thought that reporting in The Nation meant holding people accountable.  As she quickly learned, she could hold a Republican (James Baker)  accountable for war profiteering  but to note how Mad Maddie Albright was doing the same was really not acceptable to the ISO element at The Nation.

    Mad Maddie's back in the news today.  David Lerman (Bloomberg News) reports the vampire zombie rose to speak in Chicago:


    Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the U.S. must overcome a loss of trust from Arab nations that’s developed since the Iraq war as it seeks a deal with Iran on its nuclear program.
    “In many different ways, there was an erosion of trust in terms of what we were doing there,” Albright said of the Iraq war in a session today at “The Year Ahead: 2014,” a two-day conference in Chicago hosted by Bloomberg LP. 


    With the blood thirsty War Hawk Mad Maddie Albright (who thinks a standing military means its there for her own capricious adventures) to lead, what could possibly go wrong?

    For the answer to that question, just look to Iraq which is yet again slammed with violence.  The western media focuses on Bahgdad.  Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) notes 7 car bombings and 2 roadside bombings have left 47 dead in Baghdad with one-hundred-and-thirty-two more injured.  RTE, RTT and Russia Today also focus on Baghdad (to distinguish themselves, RT presents a xenophobic statement by the UK's John Wright).  Mohammed Tawfeeq updates his report here.


    Outside of Baghdad?

    National Iraqi News Agency reports 1 military officer was shot dead outside his Shura Village home, 1 Iraqi soldier was shot dead outside his Mosul home, a Falluja roadside bombing left 1 police member dead and two more injured, a second Falluja bombing left three police members injured, a Baquba sticky bombing claimed 1 life and left two more people injured, and Jalal Talabani's chief body guard was shot dead in the KRG.  All Iraq News adds that 1 "Iraqi Army postman" was shot dead in Mosul as he delivered mail.  Cheng Yang (Xinhua) reports, "In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a young man was killed and his father critically wounded when a sticky bomb attached to their car detonated in the town of Buhruz, near the provincial capital city of Baquba, a provincial police source told Xinhua.  Separately, four bombs planted to houses in the eastern part of Baquba, went off in the morning and caused damage to the houses and slightly wounded two children, the source said."

    Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 421 violent deaths so far this month.  BBC News reminds, "The UN says 979 people - including 158 police and 127 military personnel - were killed in violent attacks in October. More than 6,500 civilians have died since January."


    About the death of that chief body guard of Jalal Talabani's,  Colonel Sarawr Hama Rashed.  Xinhua reports that he was shot dead in his Sulaimaniyah home "in front of his wife" and that he was "the chief bodyguard of Iraq's president."


    Jalal Talabani is the President of Iraq.  Or he's supposed to be.  The question continues to be: Can you be the president of a country you're not in?  Last December,  Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke.   The incident took place late on December 17th (see the December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.    Thursday, December 20th, he was moved to Germany.  He remains in Germany currently.


    So questions need to be answered regarding not just why the body guard wasn't in Germany but also regarding Jalal's real health condition because despite months of claiming that he'd be returning any second, Jalal still hasn't.  And he's still not spoken in front of any recording camera and all visits by Iraqi politicians are refused.  For 11 months now, he's not performed his duties and he's been out of the country.  The Iraqi people deserve answers.  


    As the lies about Jalal continue so do the rains in Iraq.  All Iraq News notes 12 homes collapsed in Babel due to flooding and  4 people drowned in Najaf due to the flooding.  That's attributable to Nouri al-Maliki who's failed to improve the infrastructure despite being prime minister since 2006.  Improved civil construction would eliminate the standing waters.  Instead, an out-dated sewage system (last worked on in the 1970s) gets backed up and allows the waters to stand.   In Diwaniya, a home collapsed killing a mother and daughter.  That's very sad but the collapse of the home from heavy rains is nature, it's not an effect of Nouri.  Another woman in the same city died of electrocution.  That was from flooding in the home.  Most likely that is Nouri's fault.  The heavy rains pooled in the streets, there was not adequate sewage drains on the streets to pull the water elsewhere and the woman's home flooded.  That's government's fault, not nature.  Yesterday's snapshot noted that Nouri was stating each province in need would receive 200 million dinars.  Oops.  He got his headlines for 'leadership' and then his petty nature took over.  Al-Shorfa reports today that the deal is now 200 billion Iraqi dinars for all of Iraq's provinces -- not for each.  In addition, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran explains:

    Following the heavy rainfall last night in Iraq, flood covered the entire of Camp Liberty. Water has accumulated many of the sections reaching up to half a meter in some parts.
    No one can go around the camp and transportation has stopped completely. This has caused great problems for the residents at the camp.
    This is while water accumulated from the previous rainfall that occurred 10 days ago had not been removed. Restrictions and lack of required systems has hindered the residents from being able to confront this catastrophe.
    The widespread flood has also caused serious problems for the hunger strikers whom are on their 81st day, preventing transfer of those who face critical problems to the Iraqi clinic at the camp. This has caused great risk for the lives of the hunger strikers.
    On Camp Ashraf, I need to do a disclosure.  We got an e-mail from someone connected with the movement.  I didn't read it.  Shirley responded to it on my behalf at my request.  That's as close as we're getting.  If that offends someone, my apologies.
    We have defended the Ashraf community for years now.  When Jon Corzine and others were being targeted by the US government for their work on this issue, we defended them.  What I did not note then was that, while visiting friends at the Justice Dept at that time, I was asked if I would submit to official questioning because I was on 'the list.' I sat for 15 minutes of questions.  It was ludicrous to assume that I'd take money from anyone but I did offer my bank records willingly.  They were not examined, the offer was not taken up.  But for what I'd written here, I was questioned.  My response was not to go silent on the issue and not to move away from it.  If anything, we got louder in our defense of the Ashraf community.   No charges were brought against me because I had no involvement with the Ashraf community.   That's why I nod to the people in yellow suits at the Congressional  hearings but don't approach them.  
    I will continue to support the Ashraf community here -- as long as they're in Iraq and as long as we're here online.  But I will also continue to maintain a wall.  Nothing against the community, but I am independent and I think my voice here has more value as a result.  I also wish to remain able to say, if questioned again, "No, I have not any contact with any representative or member of the Ashraf community." The Ashraf movement is more than welcome to e-mail articles or press releases and we'll note them when we can.  But I do not have private conversations with the movement.

    Prashant Rao and Jason Ditz have important articles.  Hopefully, we'll have room for both tomorrow.




    iraq
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    The stupid New York Times columnist

    $
    0
    0
    A stupid columnist wrote a stupid column.

    I have ignored it here.  I did write about it in my column in Hildy's Mix on Tuesday.  That led to a few e-mails and I am going to briefly note it here now.

    James McAuley is an idiot.

    He is a little boy in public playing with himself, his hands down the front of his pants. 

    He wanted to attack Dallas, the city, with half-truths and outright lies.

    Dallas has no river, he wrote at one point.

    Dallas has the Trinity River.

    Did the idiot really not know that.

    They are spending a great deal of money on the Trinity River Project.


    This is from the Dallas Real Estate Blog:


        

    Trinity River Project Dallas TXTHE TRINITY RIVER IS ON A COURSE TO TRANSFORM DALLAS. YOU’RE INVITED TO COME ALONG.
     
     
    HISTORIC TRINITY RIVER FLOWS INTO A VIBRANT NEW FUTURE.
     
    It was the Trinity River that first drew people to Dallas, and now it’s about to hold a greater attraction than ever. As civic leaders, community groups and Dallas residents looked beyond the obvious need for flood protection along the river, they saw an opportunity for community revitalization and economic development. Soon all will see that brighter vision, as Dallas enters the first phase of a balanced, long-range plan for the Trinity River Corridor.
     
    This thoughtfully designed project sets the Trinity River on a course for major public improvements which will not only provide flood protection, but also create parks, improve mobility, enhance our environment, and ensure the long-term economic vitality of Dallas.
     
    See for yourself how the Trinity River is on its way to becoming the center of a vibrant urban lifestyle minutes from downtown Dallas.


    We went to Texas a few years back.  2006?  And it was great, I loved it.  I loved Dallas.  There's a Thai place that Trina fell in love with.  We had a wonderful time.  We were in Houston, Austin, Tyler, Longview, and a number of small cities.  Even now, I can remember the Trinity River.

    Dallas is not a hateful city.

    They had at least two openly gay City Council members when we visited.  Dallas is part of Dallas County where the sherrif is Lupe Valdez, an open lesbian.

    Let us pretend for a moment that little Jimmy with his hands down his pants is right and Dallas is responsible for the death of President John F. Kennedy.

    That was in 1963.  The adults in 1963 -- 21 or older -- would now be at least 71.  Point being, even if Dallas was riddled with hate in 1963 (it was not), the bulk of those people would be dead. 

    (I used 21 and older because back then, you had to be 21 to vote.)

    Dallas has a wonderful museum downtown.  It has community parks throughout the city.

    It is not the city that little Jimmy tries to pretend it is.

    He should be ashamed of himself and so should The New York Times for publishing his rubbish.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    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).



    For the second day in a row, RT has allowed John Wright to blame Sunnis for the violence in the Middle East including Iraq.


    How stupid or hateful is he?

    Does he even know what the situation is in Syria?

    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.


    The mass arrests of Sunnis fuel the violence.  Monday, for example, 85 people were rounded up in Wasit Province alone.  The mass arrests would be disturbing in any country.


    They're especially disturbing in Iraq.

    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.

    Let's drop back to the October 4th snapshot:



    Protests took place today.   Iraqi Spring MC notes protests took place in Baghdad, in TikritNajafRamadi, FallujaSamarra, Baquba, Balad RuzJalawla, among other sites.   Protests have been taking place non-stop since December 21st.   Of today's protests, NINA notes:



    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.


    National Iraqi News Agency reports:


    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.



    You think that's gong to calm the violence?  Or the arrest in Ramadi of former army officer Ahmed al-Dulaimi?

    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."


    And the violence just continues.   Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports that an al-Sadiya suicide car bombing has caused multiple deaths and injuries. Sinan Salaheddin (AP) counts 38 dead and forty-five injured.  National Iraqi News Agency reports Sheikh Mohammed Homadi was assassinated in Mosul, a western Baghdad car bombing claimed 6 lives and left fourteen people injured, a Qa'im bombing left two Iraqi soldiers injured, a Mosul bombing near a hotel left seven people injured, a northern Baghdad bombing claimed 1 life and left five people injured, a northern Baghdad suicide bombing targeting a military checkpoint left 3 Iraqi soldiers dead and six injured, 2 people were shot dead inside a Baghdad food store, 1 Peshmerga was shot dead in Mosul, a Baquba roadside bombing left one person injured, a Mousl armed clash left 2 police members killed and two more injured, a Khanaqin car bombing claimed 4 lives and left ten people injured, and a suspect -- in the Wednesday murder of Tharwat Moahmed Rachid (Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's chief body guard) -- was shot dead in Sulaimaniyah Province.


    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 - tally:





  • 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:

    EvolveSociety
    http://evolvesociety.org/feature/a-ca...

    TruthOut
    http://www.truth-out.org/speakout/ite...

    InterOcuppy
    http://interoccupy.net/blog/a-call-fo...

    US Day of Rage
    http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rrmtgk

    Popular Resistance
    http://www.popularresistance.org/a-ca...

    AnonInsiders
    http://anoninsiders.net/anonymous-cal...

    Social media pages have been created in support on the following locations:

    EvolveSociety:
    https://evolvesociety.org/network/ind...

    Twitter:
    https://twitter.com/WaveOfAction

    Facebook:
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Worldw...





















    cnn
    mohammed tawfeeq



    The questions remain

    $
    0
    0
    Currently, you can stream Mark Lane's Rush To Judgment documentary here.

    And you should stream it.

    This week, The Huffington Post reported:

    As the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's death nears, former presidential candidate Gary Hart, a member of the Senate committee that investigated JFK's assassination, said that the press had failed in its responsibility to investigate the truth behind his killing.

    Hart served on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Agencies, known as the Church committee, after chairman Frank Church. He recalled that while the committee was investigating the connection between the assassination, the Mafia and plots against Cuban President Fidel Castro, two of the three main figures involved were also killed.

    "It's amazing to me that American journalism never followed up on that story very much, because if you found out who killed those two guys, you might have some really interesting information on your hands," Hart, who served as a Democratic senator from Colorado for two terms, told HuffPost in a recent interview.


    ABC News reported earlier this month:


    After making headlines last week for wading into the never-ending John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory debate, Secretary of State John Kerry attempted to put a lid on his comments over the weekend.

    In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” host David Gregory asked Kerry to elaborate on comments he made to NBC’s Tom Brokaw during a 50th anniversary special of  Kennedy’s death.

    In the special, which aired last week, Kerry said that “to this day” he had “serious doubts that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.”

    Kerry added that he believed Oswald was “inspired somewhere by something.”

    Former US senators Gary Hart and John Kerry believe there is more to the story.  Mr. Kerry is our current Secretary of State.

    So you should think about that before you shut down your mind and pretend like all the questions have been answered.  They have not.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:  


    Friday, November 22, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, flooding continues, earthquake -- well that's different, rumors attached to Paul Bremer have Nouri currently asking Barack for US troops in Iraq, and more.



    National Iraqi News Agency notes that US State Dept official Brett McGurk met with Iraqi Vice President Khodair al-Khozai to discuss "the latest developments" in Iraq and he met yesterday with the head of the  Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, Ammar al-Hakeem, and that "US Ambassador to Iraq, Robert Beecroft, attended the meeting."


    What could they be discussing?

    And Beecroft an after thought?

    Thank goodness that MoveOn and everyone else got together and said "NO" to Brett McGurk's nomination to be US Ambassador to Iraq.

    Oh, wait, they didn't.

    They stayed silent or they whored.

    Brett did what?

    That's right, he was a key negotiator in Iraq during Bully Boy Bush's occupation of the White House.  His responsibilities included extending the US military presence in Iraq.

    What could he be discussing this time?


    The last week of October, chief thug and prime minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki visited DC.  On Friday, November 1st, US President Barack Obama hosted Nouri at the White House.

    Though the visit received some attention, it may be about to get a little more.  At least in the Arab world which has a more functioning press than we do in the United States.


    Kitabat reports on an interview Paul Bremer gave.  I'll assume it was to a non-US outlet since there's no US coverage of Bremer's remarks (although the US press ignores Iraq repeatedly so maybe not).

    Bremer stated in the interview that Nouri asked Barack to send US troops.

    What answer did Nouri receive?

    According to Bremer (according to Kitabat), he was not turned down, he was told the US was prepared to study how to best do this.

    Dar Addustour columnist As Sheikh also weighs in on the Bremer interview and notes, if Bremer's remarks were accurate, Nouri has acted unilaterally and not informed the Parliament or sought their input or approval.

    This would qualify as a serious Iraq issue.

    So of course no one's talking about in the US media -- not even the so-called watchdogs and press critics.

    Let's move to The Great Frauds of NYC.  Peter Hart of FAIR, come on down.  Hart wants to whine that some media members are comparing ObamaCare and/or its roll out to the Iraq War.  That comparison's gone on for some time now, we've never made it here.  It's not one I would make.  It's also not the simplistic comparison FAIR and others reduce it to.  ObamaCare supposedly is going to save lives.  So, yes, it does matter whether the rollout works or not.


    It is the same lies that led to the Iraq War?

    To me, no.  But the Iraq War -- the ongoing Iraq War -- actually matters to me.

    Let's bring another loser into the conversation.  Greg Mitchell's being itching for another woman to hate on.  What do do after the pack sent out a woman to attack their despised network TV woman and it turned out the attacker wasn't a reporter but someone who repeatedly had sex with military officers to get her lame newspaper stories?

    Find another woman to attack.  At his blog Pressing Issues, Mitchell's had another fit.  No, I'm not talking about his attack on Courtney Love -- in a week when he mentioned hundreds of male musicians and didn't attack any of them.  I'm talking about this:

    Unlike a lot of media and political writers I am not one to let bygones be bygones, at least in a very few tragic or high stakes cases.  For example, the media failures in the run-up to the Iraq war, given the consequences.  This explains my reaction to the Columbia Journalism Review today announcing, after a widely-watched search, that it was hiring Liz Spayd of The Washington Post as its new editor.

    Now, I suppose I should review her entire career, for context, though others are doing it and you can read about it in plenty of places.  She has been managing editor of the Post for years now and obviously supervised a good deal of important work (and some not so terrific, of course).  But I am moved to recall, and then let go,  one famous 2004 article, by Howard Kurtz, then media writer at the Post, which I covered in my book on those media failures and Iraq, So Wrong for So Long.



    And what was so wrong?  That she said this about the paper's coverage:


    "I believe we pushed as hard or harder than anyone to question the administration's assertions on all kinds of subjects related to the war. . . . Do I wish we would have had more and pushed harder and deeper into questions of whether they possessed weapons of mass destruction? Absolutely," she said. "Do I feel we owe our readers an apology? I don't think so." 



    For context, last Friday, Martin Bashir made hideous comments on MSNBC.  I'm not going to link to them -- I think they were hideous, why would I want to promote them? -- but I didn't see it.  Every day this week, e-mails have come in insisting it must be noted.

    And it might have been noted if I'd heard of his remarks on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or early Monday.  I first heard of them on Tuesday and that was after his Monday evening apology.

    He apologized.

    We all say things that we regret.

    He apologized.  I did stream that.  It appeared sincere.

    So he made remarks that he admitted were out of bounds and he offered an apology.

    To me, that's the end of the story.

    I don't like Martin Bashir (going back to his 90s 'reporting'), but if someone offers a sincere apology for words they spoke, I think we're grown ups and we accept it.

    Greg Mitchell is having a fit over Elizabeth Spayd's remarks in 2004 -- brief remarks.

    Spayd worked for the paper.  She states she wishes the paper had pushed harder on WMD.  She doesn't believe the paper owes an apology.

    I don't think the Washington Post needs to apologize either.

    I think they need to add corrections to hundreds of articles they ran on Iraq.

    I think they were wrong and I think they served up a lot of lousy journalism.

    But that's a difference of opinion with Elizabeth Spayd.  Or a difference of opinion I have with her opinion expressed back in 2004.

    Back in March, Ava and I wrote "TV: The War Crimes Documentary" covering  James Steele: America's Mystery Man In Iraq -- the British documentary about counter-insurgency in Iraq.  I also covered it repeatedly here in multiple snapshots.  dropping back to the April 30th Iraq snapshot:




    December 6, 2012, the Memorandum of Understanding For Defense Cooperation Between the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Iraq and the Department Defense of the United States of America was signed.  We covered it in the December 10th and December 11th snapshots -- lots of luck finding coverage elsewhere including in media outlets -- apparently there was some unstated agreement that everyone would look the other way.  It was similar to the silence that greeted Tim Arango's September 25th New York Times report which noted, "Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions.  At the request of the Iraqi government, according to [US] General [Robert L.] Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence."


    For months, we were the only ones analyzing the MoU.  Then there's Tim Arango's very important report noted above.

    We have covered it and linked to it and covered it again.  That didn't stop in 2012.  We continue to cover it.  In addition, we also repeatedly note his important report this year.   In September, Tim Arango (New York Times) broke that story about Nouri arming and outfitting Shi'ite militias to target Sunnins:

    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.


    That's important.  Why aren't press critics at FAIR, as well as Greg Mitchell, amplifying these reports? Why aren't they offering critiques of how the rest of the media treats Arango's reports as though they have "Classified" stamped on them?

    And let's quote hypocrite and fat ass, limp dick liar Greg Mitchell one more time:

    Unlike a lot of media and political writers I am not one to let bygones be bygones, at least in a very few tragic or high stakes cases.  For example, the media failures in the run-up to the Iraq war, given the consequences. 


    High stackes cases?

    That's what he says.  And "the media failures in the run-up to the Iraq war, given the consequences."

    What consequences?

    You mean death and dying?

    If so, that never ended and continues to this day.

    So it must be Greg Mitchell's "media failures" that have prevented him repeatedly from noting Iraq.

    The only time he brings up Iraq, is as a finished, past story -- and then, only to clobber people over the head with it.

    Well put on your big boy pants Greg and explain to us -- if consequences matter -- why you didn't cover the documentary at your site, why you don't cover Arango's reports, why you don't cover the ongoing, 11-month old protests in Iraq?

    These are some of the ongoing consequences of the Iraq War.

    You want to hold someone else accountable, you need to make sure you're doing your job and, let's be honest, since Bully Boy Bush left the White House, Greg Mitchell's 'reporting' has been about running interference for the White House.  He doesn't give a damn about the Iraqi people.

    He can write -- and write poorly -- about people who question Barack's eligibility to be president.

    We are critics of Barack Obama -- as we would be of any War Hawk.  And yet I've never had the time to indulge in writing about that topic.  We'd never noted it at Third if it wasn't a pattern of Greg Mitchell's lies.


    Yes, Greg not only felt the need to write about it but, liar that he is when we pointed his mistake at Third (comprehension is so hard for Greg), when we laughed him for being so stupid and so wrong, he went back into Pressing Issues and changed what he wrote without noting that he'd changed it.  That is a liar.

    FAIR didn't cover the British documentary about counter-insurgency.  They didn't cover the lack of coverage of Tim Arango's reports.  They have yet to do a blog post, report or on air mention (CounterSpin) of how protests can continue for eleven months -- with protesters being killed -- and the US media can ignore it.

    Iraq matters.  As much today as it did in 2003, Iraq matters.

    In fact, it actually matters more now.  Back in 2003, there was media attention on Iraq -- All Things Media Big and Small.  Today, there's really not attention in the United States.

    And let's be real damn clear, in 2013, whining about what happened in 2003 is neither productive nor helpful.

    It can be part larger effort to cover Iraq.

    But if that's what passes for your Iraq coverage today?

    You're not just a whore, you're a dumb whore.


    This is from CJR's announcement of that Elizabeth Spayed was becoming editor in chief and publisher of Columbia Journalism Review (magazine) and of the CJR website:




    Spayd has spent the last 25 years at the Washington Post, most recently as managing editor of the paper, where she helped supervise a newsroom of 600 journalists in Washington and around the world, overseeing coverage of everything from political, foreign, and financial news to investigative projects and features. Spayd’s previous job was managing editor of the Post’s website. She joined the Post in 1988 as an editor on the business desk, and before that she was business editor at the Detroit News. She earned her BA in journalism from Colorado State University in 1981.
    “Journalism is shape-shifting into a form like nothing we’ve ever seen, a process that’s fascinating and invigorating but also nerve-wracking and confusing,” said Spayd. “It makes intelligent coverage of the field essential, and I hope as we fortify CJR’s mission, we’ll emerge as something of a North Star for those who care about journalism.”
    Spayd’s mandate is to lead a strategic reset of CJR’s audience and editorial vision, with an eye toward ensuring rising visibility, impact, and relevance for CJR’s content through print, digital, video, and mobile channels. The magazine will continue its traditional media criticism, while also exploring and clarifying how traditional journalistic ethics apply to the digital space, as well as analyzing and evaluating new business models that have the capacity to change the profession.



    You can judge for yourself whether she's qualified or not.  I honestly don't care.  (I do care that Mitchell's never-ending War On Women made her the latest target.)  Mainly because we've got to roll up our sleeves and do what FAIR and Greg Mitchell and all the other useless ones won't do, we have to cover Iraq.




  • Just been watching reports of protests in and all I can say is respect!
  • 1min Iraqis defy 'Iran's puppet' al-Maliki with mass nationwide protests




  • Since December 21st, protests have been taking place in Iraq. Zvi Bar'el (Haaretz) observed this fall that the protests have taken place in spite of obstacles, "For its part, the regime has done all it can to prevent major demonstrations. The centers of the cities have been flooded with police. Cars fitted with loudspeakers have been banned from the streets and major access roads have been closed off. And there is a new directive which, in violation of Iraqi law, bans demonstrations out of 'concern for security risks.' None of this has managed to quell the protest and the regime understands that the demonstrations are liable to spread, posing a threat to the government." Iraqi Spring Media notes protests took place today in Rawa, Falluja, Ramadi, Jalawla, Tikrit, Samarra,  among other places.  Iraqi Spring Media Tweeted the following:






    1. متظاهرو الرمادي يعلنون بقاءهم على الطرق الرئيسة التي اغلقت من قبلهم ولن يغادروها الا بعد اطلاق سراح المعتقلين.
      .

    2. مظاهرات أهالي مدينة الرمادي القائمة الآن في المدينة:
      "اعتقال الأبرياء ظلم للشعب"
      .

    3. :
      عشيرة البوفهد تعلن الطرق الرئيسية المؤدية الى مدينة الرمادي على حملة التي طالت المدينة.





    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."

    In September, Adnan Abu Zeed (Al-Monitor) reported:



     In the same vein, Riyad al-Gharib, an Iraqi writer and media personality from Babil radio, told Al-Monitor, “The Iraqi dream of democracy is likely to fade away. Political elites have long undermined the meaning of the democratic process and therefore citizens -- who look up to these elites -- have begun to view democracy as a problem.”
    “Political elites ought to reconsider their policies, because the citizens who helped them arrive to power are capable of ousting them in a peaceful democratic process,” he added.


    There have still been no concessions.  At the start of 2013, there was the pretense of releasing some of the innocent detainees.  But the government refused to provide a list of the released -- not even to Parliament -- and at least some of the families of the 'released' never saw the 'released.'


    Iraq's been facing many issues lately.  Today was a new one for the month.  Nihad Qais (Alsumaria)  reports that Baghdad and other provinces were hit by an earthquake.  Dar Addustour notes it was a 5.2 on the Richter scale and that it hit Baghdad, Sulaymaniyah, Kirkuk, Basra and Wasit Province.  All Iraq News reports on it here.   Earthquakes in addition to the flooding.  AFP reports, "The floodwaters, which have cut off entire areas of Baghdad and several other cities to most vehicles, were caused by several days of heavy rainfall that overwhelmed the crumbling drainage system.  Video footage posted on Facebook depicted residents of the Iraqi capital negotiating water-logged streets in life rafts or on planks of wood, armed with makeshift oars."


    On the issue of the flooding, UNAMI issued the following today:


    UN Iraq working closely with Government to assist flood victims

    Baghdad, 22 November 2013 - The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG) Mr. Nickolay Mladenov and the UN family in Iraq have been closely following with Iraqi officials the assistance that the United Nations can provide to the Government, more particularly the Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM), in its efforts in assisting the communities affected by the recent floods caused by heavy rains.


    At an emergency meeting yesterday between representatives of the MoDM and the United Nations Humanitarian Country Team, it was announced that, while an overall joint assessment of needs is ongoing, the United Nations agencies are providing emergency assistance to the most affected populations, and are ready to support affected populations as required. 

    The UN Iraq assistance includes the distribution of Non-Food Items (NFIs) packages by the UN Refugee Agency (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees -  UNHCR) to 600 families in several affected areas in Najaf, Kerbala, Anbar, Babylon and Baghdad; as well as pumping out water in flooded internally displaced settlements in Baghdad, through its implementing partners. 

    The UNHCR NFIs packages contain plastic sheets, mattresses, blankets, jerry cans, stoves, and kitchen and hygienic sets.

    The United Nations agencies including the World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are liaising and coordinating with the MoDM to identify the support needed towards ensuring a coordinated response to those in need.




    The Iraqi people have to put up with Nouri's incompetent governance.  They suffer from his lack of leadership.  AFP's Prashant Rao Tweets:



    1. Iraqis have taken to social media to vent their frustration over recent flooding in witty ways - by :
    2. Iraq is meant to be a wealthy country? Shame people have to suffer so much under its RULE!


  • Meanwhile, Iraq Times reports that issues are being raised about potential health issues arising from the stagnant water -- measels, cholera, etc -- and calling for the government to address these issues.  Hamid Shabab (Iraq Times) notes that there are forecasts predicting heavy rains next week.





    The US Embassy in Baghdad issued the following yesterday:


    The U.S. Condemns Terrorist Attacks in Baquba and Baghdad

    November 21, 2013
    The U.S. Mission in Iraq strongly condemns today's terrorist attack in Baquba that killed more than 25 innocent women, men, and children and yesterday's suicide attacks that killed dozens throughout Baghdad. The United States is committed in its support to the Government of Iraq in combating terrorism. We extend our sincere condolences to the families of the victims of these attacks and wish a rapid recovery to the injured.




    Violence continued today.  National Iraqi News Agency reports Col Abid Homaish al-Jumaily's Ramadi home was attacked leaving two of his body guards injured, a Mosul sticky bombing left Mayor Abid Abbass Ali (a Shaback) dead, in al-Khalis 1 cleric and 1 of his relatives were shot dead leaving a mosque, a Baghdad roadside bombing (Mada'in distrcit) left 3 people dead and six injured, a Baghdad sticky bombing (Adhamiya) left 1 doctor dead, a Baghdad bombing (Tarmiya) left 3 Sahwa dead and three more injured, a Baghdad bombing (Abu Ghraib) left 1 person dead and four more injured, and a Baghdad bombing (Saydiya) left 1 person dead and nine more injured.  Reuters adds, "The deadliest attack took place in a predominantly Sunni Doura neighborhood in southern Baghdad, where two roadside bombs exploded near a soft drinks store, killing six people and wounding 18, the police and medics said."



















     

    Bill Moyers' boy-pal Michael Winship blusters again

    $
    0
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    This is  Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts"Oprah shares with the BBC" went up earlier this morning.

    bbc oprah


    I missed Michael Winship's latest nonsense until today.  He is at war with Joan Rivers.

    Well of course.

    If he were at war with John Rivers we would all be having heart attacks.

    Remember, Mr. Winship only attacks women -- as Ava and C.I. have long documented.

    Mr. Winship is ticked off because Ms. Rivers, a comedian, used the term "schumucks" to desribe writers.  (Ms. Rivers is herself a writer and wrote one of the finest comedy films for TV, The Girl Most Likely To . . . starring Stockard Channing and a cast of many including Ed Asner.)

    Mr. Winship really needs to find some real issues to address.  Put-downs from Joan Rivers?  Ay-yi-yi.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:  


    Monday, November 25, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, the United Nations Security Council pretends to be interested in Iraq, this includes a fake hearing, another Iraqi journalist was killed over the weekend, US Senator Patty Murray holds a hearing in Seattle tomorrow to address the needs of challenged and disabled children of military families, and more.


    We're starting with the United Nations.  We'll be discussing how the UN Security Council is lazy, ignorant and wasteful.  But first, Nickolay Mladenov offered testimony this morning.  He heads UNAMI and he's UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's representative in Iraq.


    He noted early on, "The security situation continued to worsen, with almost daily attacks by terrorist and armed groups against civilians and the Iraqi security forces.  Along with rising casualty figures, forced displacement on a sectarian and ethnic basis has re-emerged in several governorates." Today, Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) reports, "Sectarian bombings continue apace across Iraq in general and the capital city of Baghdad in particular, killing almost 200 in the past week and showing that rather than slowing down, the summer violence is actually speeding up as winter approaches." Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed Saturday, "The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq estimates at least 979 Iraqis -- 852 of them civilians -- were killed in October alone." For a Reuters graph of the UN fatality figures, refer to Geoffrey Ingersoll's report for Business Insider.



    And possibly the most important thing he told (read to) the UN Security Council was about the ongoing protests.


    Nickolay Mladenov:  Protests continued in Anbar, Nineveh, Salah al-Din, Kirkuk and Diayala governorates in the form of unified Friday prayers.  Compared to the past reporting period, the protests assumed a lower profile, owning in part to increased attention to the protesters' demands by newly elected local administrations. Indeed, the Anbar Governorate Council elected Sabah Karhout, a member of the Arab Iraqiya party, as its chair, and Ahmed Khalif al-Dulaimi, a member of the Muttahidoun party, as Governor.  In Ninewa, the Governorate Council re-elected Atheel al-Nujaifi, a known supporter of the protestors and brother of the Speake of the Council of Representatives [Osama al-Nujaifi], as Governor.  On 5 October dialogue between the Government and the protestors resumed following a meeting between the Prime Minister [Nouri al-Maliki] and the Governor of Anbar, who was nominated by the demonstrators to represent their interests.  While the meeting was described as positive and fruitful by the Prime Minister's office, no progress has been announced to date in addressing the demonstrators' demands.  



    Could the lazy foreign (non-Iraq) press register that?

    "While the meeting was described as positive and fruitful by the Prime Minister's office, no progress has been announced to date in addressing the demonstrators' demands."

    Can they register that?  AP, Reuters, AFP, etc, can you register that.

    Because these outlets keep pimping the lie that Nouri has met protesters demands.

    He's not met them and even UNAMI notes that Nouri's office spins but there is no progress.

    The protests passed the 11 month mark last Friday.

    The non-Iraq outlets ignored it.  But there's a chance, a small one, that AP, AFP, et al might actually report on the protests next month.  That's because December 21st will be the one year anniversary of the protests, 12 months of continuous protesting.  So there's a chance, a small one, that non-Iraqi outlets might finally give some serious attention to these protests.

    If they do, let's hope they remember what the United Nations Security Council was told today:   "While the meeting was described as positive and fruitful by the Prime Minister's office, no progress has been announced to date in addressing the demonstrators' demands."

    Nothing they've 'reported' in the last months has indicated there are even aware of that reality.

    Here's a little more reality from National Iraqi News Agency, Nouri's security forces arrested Sheikh Mehdi Ziad today a "member of the coordinating committees in Samarra and preacher of the sit-in of Samarra." His home was raided and he was arrested "without knowing the reason for his arrest."


    As protesters are killed and the leaders are arrested (repeatedly on both), where is the world press?


    Prashant Rao heads AFP's Baghdad bureau which should mean he's interested when Nouri's forces arrest the leaders of the protests.

    Should mean that.

    But there's no Tweet on that.

    He did, however, make time to note this very important issue:



    1. The only solace in being a Bulls fan now is that the Lakers decided they're not interested in contending, by signing Kobe to a $48mn deal.



    They do something.

    I don't know that anyone would call it reporting, but they do busy themselves with trivia.

    Last January, the International Anti-Occupation Network issued a call for support:



    The protesters are justly demanding:
    1. The immediate release of detained protesters and dissident prisoners.
    2 . A stop to the death penalty.
    3. The approval of an amnesty law for innocent detainees.
    4. The abolition of anti-terrorism laws (especially Clause 4 used to target them).
    5. The repeal of unfair rulings against dissidents.
    6. Fair opportunities for work based on professionalism.
    7.The end of the use of all military command based on geographic areas.
    8. The provision of essential services to all areas in Iraq neglected by the state.
    9. The holding of all … governmental officials, army or security units who have committed crimes against dissidents accountable, especially those who have violated the honor of women in prisons.
    10. A U.N.-sponsored population count.
    11. An end to marginalization, a stop to agitating divisions between ethnic and religious groups, and a stop to the house raids without legal warrant based on the information of secret informers.
    12. A stop to financial, administrative and legal corruption.
    13. The combating of sectarianism in all its forms by returning religious buildings and all religious properties to their rightful owners, and the abolishment of law No. 19 of 2005.




    The prisoners, the disappeared.  Secret prisons in Iraq, false arrests.  "False arrest" is the correct term. You're married to Gary and there's a knock on your door one day when Gary's out.  You open it, it's the Iraqi police.  They want Gary for some reason.  You're suspected of no crime but you're hauled off and tossed into the prison and detention system because the Iraqi police can't find Gary.  That happens over and over in Iraq.

    It's from the US government actually.  They started this illegal practice.  They did so by having the US military act worse than mobsters -- the mob's a little more respectful of families than the US government which ordered US forces to grab the wives of suspects and throw them behind bars to hold them as hostages until/unless the suspects came forward.

    This practice of arresting family members continues.  (But there's no effort to release the innocent family member if the suspect comes forward or is caught elsewhere.)


    Testifying to the UN Security Council today, Mladenov that UNAMI has been allowed to visit and inspect the prisons and detention centers under the Ministry of Justice.  They found, he testified, "overcrowding and lack of adequate health services." He also noted that there was "a lack of special programs for female detainees and prisoners to ensure their reintegration into society after release."


    This is a standard comment from whomever is the head of UNAMI.  Let's not another one, a more disturbing one, "UNAMI has not yet been granted access to detention centers under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior.  UNAMI nevertheless received reports of abuse, mistreatment and, at times, torture of many detainees and prisoners in those facilites prior to charge and transfer to facilities under the authority of the Ministry of Justice, in particular with regard to persons detained under the Anti-Terrorism Law Number 13 of 2005."


    Let's be clear, torture is continuing in Iraq.

    But let's be even more clear.  Outside of Iraq, people often miss this point.

    That's especially true with some in the US.

    Iraq has a different executive branch system than the US.  While cabinet heads, such as Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebaria have their equivalents in the US like Secretary of State John Kerry, there are very real differences.

    Chief among them, if John Kerry does a job US President Barack Obama doesn't approve of, Barack will ask for his resignation and Kerry will deliver it.  Should Kerry fail to do so, Barack would just cut Kerry out of the loop.

    The way things are set up in Iraq are different.  Let's pretend John Kerry is an Iraqi.  Nouri nominates  him to be Minister of Oil.   The Iraqi Parliament then votes.  If they vote to confirm him, Kerry is the Minister of Oil.  If Nouri's unhappy with Kerry's performance, he can ask for a resignation.  Kerry can refuse.  If Kerry refuses, Nouti's next step is to go to the Parliament and ask them to strip Kerry of his post.  Nouri attempted this from the end of 2011 to May 2012 with both Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq and Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.

    The Parliament refused to do so.  Both al-Mutlaq and al-Hashemi remain in their posts until their terms end.

    If Kerry refused to step down as Minister of Oil and the Parliament refused to vote him out of that post, Nouri would be stuck with John Kerry.

    Nouri didn't feel his Cabinet (violation of the Constituion).  He instead did a power grab by refusing to nomiate people to head the security ministries. Ayad Allawi, head of Iraqiya, immediately called it that but the foreign press dismissed that assertion and insisted, in January 2011, that Nouri would fill his Cabinet in a matter of weeks.


    Back in July 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."

    Those three positions remain unfilled.  All this time later, they're empty.  This allows Nouri to control them.  He puts a puppet in as 'acting' minister (no approval from Parliament so they have no job protection and do Nouri's bidding).

    Nouri doesn't control the Ministry of Justice.

    UNAMI was able to inspect and visit the prisons and detention centers under the Ministry of Justice.


    But what did Nikolay Maladenov say?  "UNAMI has not yet been granted access to detention centers under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior."

    That's prisons and detention centers under Nouri's control.

    Nouri's refusing to allow the United Nation to have access to those.  Nouri and only Nouri because he's over the Ministry of the Interior as a result of his power grab.



    We'll note another statement the head of UNAMI made -- this one when he spoke briefly to reporters after (he spoke to the press for less than three minutes).


    Nickolay Mladenov:  I strongly believe that we need to have a focus on the forthcoming elections that have been scheduled for April 30th.  The government and the political parties have agreed to have that date on time and I do believe that it is vital that this date be observed properly by all and UNAMI will continue to invest heavily in in supporting the Electoral Committee in Iraq as well as working close with all the authorities to make sure that the election is done in a proper and transparent manner and in the timeframe that has been stipulated by law.



    Of the UN Security Council, Matthew Russell Lee (Inner City Press) reports:


    After the UN Security Council much belatedly issued a press statement Monday on the carnage in Iraq, Inner City Press asked the Council's president and then Iraq's Permanent Representative what had taken so long.
    Just as the Security Council has not met or even had a briefing about Libya and militias in Tripoli killing dozens of civilians, there is a similar resistance to admitting how un-solved Iraq is after intervention. But Iraq's Permanent Representative Mohamed Alhakim told Inner City Press that his country had been asking the Council to issue a statement. 
    Inner City Press asked, so it was only the US opposing it? 
    He replied that, "We wanted a clear" statement. "Sometimes a mixture of different" approaches "and we were against that." We said, "please come up with something unified, strong,  target the organizations and countries" behind the terrorism, which "has support of money."



    We'll note the statement in a moment.

    First though, no more attending this nonsense for me.  Because this was the first briefing of new UNAMI head Nickolay Mladenov, I attended this one.  I'd attended the previous ones by Martin Kobler.  It was a waste of time.  We'll cover it but I don't plan to attend any more.

    My time is of value to me.

    I thought things might change with Mladenov.  It hasn't.  He's not the problem with this issue, the problem is the United Nations Security Council.

    They have time and money to waste as they demonstrate with each Iraq briefing.

    The UNAMI head, whomever he or she is (they've all been men so far, way to be progressive UN), shows up, sits down and then reads -- near word-for-word -- from a report that was actually given to the Security Council days before.  This usually takes about 22 minutes.  It is followed by what I like to consider the Iraqi rebuttal -- where an Iraqi officials reads a statement for about thirty minutes filled with fairy tales and spin.  I never bother transcribing that but, if you're interested, here's how the UN reported the Iraqi rebuttal:



    Following his briefing, Mohamed Alhakim ( Iraq) said his country was sparing no efforts to involve all segments of Iraqi society in the political process and resolve all lingering problems in the framework of national reconciliation.  His Government aimed to build a strong economy, based on its “enormous” human resources and by taking advantage of its natural resources.

    “ Iraq continues on the path of democracy to build its institutions,” he said, noting Parliament’s recent passage of the election law and its plans to hold national elections on 30 April 2014 — a milestone that would mark the fourth time in 10 years that Iraqis would choose their representatives.  Welcoming the Council’s adoption of resolution 2107 (2013) on the situation between Iraq and Kuwait, he reiterated Iraq’s commitment to fulfilling provisions related to the search for missing Kuwaitis and the return of Kuwaiti properties.  He also highlighted the “excellent and developing” relations between his country and Kuwait.

    Turning to Syria, he said the conflict there had significantly increased the frequency of terrorist attacks in Iraq, as extremist armed groups linked to Al-Qaida had crossed the shared border and obtained both arms and financial aid from individuals, organizations and countries.  He called on the Council to carry out its responsibility to take appropriate actions, to consider such behaviour terrorist activity, and bring the perpetrators to justice.  “The humanitarian situation in Syria and the Syrian refugee camps in neighbouring countries are in dire need of international assistance,” he stressed.

    On the political front, he said Iraq had participated in the Geneva I Conference and supported efforts by the Joint Representative of the Secretary-General and the Arab League to bring disputing parties together to negotiate at the Geneva II Conference.  He urged that measures be taken to support Iraq in the fight against terrorism, in line with the 2006 United Nations global strategy.  He also pressed States to help Iraq bring the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of those reprehensible acts to justice.




    And then?

    If we hurry, we can usually catch the two to five minute briefing that the UNAMI head gives which is never that surprising having heard the presentation already.

    It's a waste of time.

    I can read the testimony (silently) to myself as opposed to hear the UN official read it out loud.  If the lousy group that makes up the UN Security Council ever did a damn thing, it might be worth attending. But they have no questions and they have no statements and they sit their like lumps as the official reads the lengthy statement which their offices received days prior.

    They have no comment, they have nothing to say.

    Why are they even there?

    More importantly, why is the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Envoy to Iraq required to leave Iraq and travel several times a year to read a written statement to this group of people who have no interest in Iraq?

    Is the Security Council too stupid and ignorant or just too lazy to be expected to read the written report (credited to Ban Ki-moon)?

    It seems a bit much to fly Mladenov all the way from Baghdad to New York just so he can read a report that the Security Council should have already read themselves.

    Again, if they ever had a question, if they ever had a comment, it might make sense.

    It does not make sense for this ignorant and uninformed body to just sit there with nothing to say.  If you have the head of UNAMI (United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq) in front of you, why aren't you asking questions?  Since you're being read an overview, why aren't you asking for additional details?

    Because the Security Council is just marking time.

    And everyone's time is wasted by flying someone in from Baghdad to read from a written report that's already been provided to the members of the Security Council.  After the breifing, the head of UNAMI met with five UN members who asked questions about Iraq -- some serious, some just being polite.

    The trip to New York from Baghdad is a waste of time.  But the UNAMI head is obligated to make it.  I'm not.  And I don't plan to attend any more.  We'll just quote from the report -- the same report the UNAMI head reads to the Security Council.

    To sit through a so-called Security Council briefing is to grasp just how right Matthew Russell Lee is, the Security Council doesn't give a damn about Iraq.

    After saying nothing during the session (and looking bored), the Security Council did issue a statement.
    The United Nations News Centre noted this afternoon:


    Following Nicholay Mladenov’s briefing in which he presented two of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s reports, the 15-member Council stressed the need to bring those responsible for the violence to justice and called on Governments to cooperate with Iraqi authorities to hold the perpetrators to account.
    “The members of the Security Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice,” the body said in a statement to the press.
    The attacks deliberately targeted locations where civilians congregate, including schools and places of worship, the Council said, extending its condolences to the families, as well as the people and Government of Iraq.
    It also acknowledged the efforts of the Iraq security forces that are also being targeted in ongoing attacks.
    “The members of the Security Council strongly expressed their support for the continued efforts of the Iraqi Government to help meet security needs of the entire population of Iraq,” according to the statement.    


    Really, do they care?  Enough to issue a statement, a weak one, kind of stupid one.  Violence has been on the rise all year, it was rising last year and now they're concerned?

    Now?


    Violence continued in Iraq today.  National Iraqi News Agency reports a Baghdad sticky bombing left one person dead and another injured, a Tikrit roadside bombing injured a married couple, 1 Ministry of Justice employee was shot dead in Baghdad, a Baquba sticky bombing left one person injured, an armed attack in Mosul left 2 Iraqi soldiers dead, a Mosul suicide car bomber took his own life and the lives of 2 Peshmerga while leaving six more injured, another Mosul suicide car bomber took his own life as he targeted the SWAT headquaters leaving 1 SWAT force and 5 civilians dead while fourteen more civilians and four SWAT were left injured, a downtown Baghdad bombing left 18 people dead and thirty-six injured, and a Baghdad car bombing (northeast) has claimed 3 lives and left fifteen more people injured.


    Dropping back to last night for the assassination of journalist Alaa Idwar:



    Alaa Idwar apparently did not work for a local station.
    All Iraq News quotes a source stating, "The victim used to work as a cameraman in Nineveh al-Ghad channel and he quit his job after receiving threats of killing him in case he remained working in the channel."
    They also report another detail, he was an Iraqi Christian.
    That makes him a member of two targeted groups in Iraq: Journalists and Christians.



    Iraq's Journalistic Freedoms Observatory has issued a release on Alaa Idwar.  The JFO notes that they hold military and security forces responsible for not providing security -- not providing security as journalists have faced increasing threats and violence in Mosul for the last two months.  They note that armed forces -- who do not provide their identities -- have also prevented journalists from doing their jobs, interfering with the reporters efforts to report what is taking place. 

    They call for the federal government to conduct an investigation and to do so quickly.  They note that Alaa Idhar's death follows the murder of five other journalists in Mosul.  He was shot three times -- once in the head, once in the stomach and once in the chest.  He wasn't far from his home when the attack took place.  Alaa was 41-years-old and had begun his TV journalism career in 1999.  In later years, he added photography and frequently free lanced including for Al Jazeera.

    The JFO notes that security forces found a "liquidation list" containing forty-four names, all of them journalists.  In a statement today, Reporters Without Borders noted the assassination:

    Reporters Without Borders condemns cameraman Alaa Edwar’s murder yesterday in Mosul, the capital of the northern province of Nineveh. Employed by Nineveh Al-Ghad, a local TV station supported by the provincial authorities, Edwar was gunned down hear his home in the northern suburb of Al-Majmoaa Al-Thakafiya.
    Aged 41, Edwar was shot three times in the head and chest by unidentified gunmen and died on the spot. He had previously worked for Al-Rashid TV and for other TV stations as a freelance cameraman.
    “We offer our heartfelt condolences to Edwar’s family and colleagues,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We are very concerned by the decline in security for news providers in Iraq, especially in Nineveh province. Edwar was the fourth journalist to have been gunned down in similar circumstances in Mosul in less than two months.
    “The identity of those responsible is still unknown in all of these cases. We urge the national and local authorities to deploy the resources needed for independent investigations so that both the perpetrators and instigators of these shocking murders can be brought to justice. Investigators should not rule out the possibility of links with the victims’ work as journalists.”



    Lastly, Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee and serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Her office issued the following:



    FOR PLANNING PURPOSES                        CONTACT: Murray Press Office
    Monday, November 25th, 2013                                          (202) 224-2834

    SEATTLE: TOMORROW: Murray to Meet With Military Families, Children with Disabilities Not Covered by TRICARE
     


    Despite state laws that require behavioral health coverage, military health plans currently deny care to many military children with disabilities


    (Washington, D.C.) – Tomorrow, November 26th,  2013 at 10:00 AM PT, U.S. Senator Patty Murray will join military families and local behavioral health experts at the Haring Center at the University of Washington in Seattle to discuss legislation she introduced this week which would ensure that military families’ health plans provide adequate coverage for children and loved ones with disabilities.  The amendment requires TRICARE, the Department of Defense health program for members of the military and their families, to provide coverage for behavioral health treatments, including applied behavior analysis (ABA).   
     


    Under current TRICARE policies, many children are denied coverage for ABA and critical behavioral health treatments, and those children who do receive care often receive less than the prescribed treatment.  That places TRICARE behind the curve of thirty-four states and the District of Columbia, which require coverage of ABA as a medically necessary service for most children with a developmental disability. 
     


    There are 360,155 TRICARE beneficiaries in Washington state. CDC estimates that 1 in 88 children has been identified with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which would often be treated through applied behavior analysis (ABA), and medical costs for children with autism spectrum disorder are estimated to be six times higher than for children without autism spectrum disorder.  In addition to medical costs, intensive behavioral interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder can cost $40,000 to $60,000 per child per year.
     


    A one-page summary of Sen. Murray’s legislation is available here.



    WHO:          U.S. Senator Patty Murray
                                     Military families impacted by the law
             Dr. Ilene Schwartz, Director of the Haring Center, University of Washington
             Col. Dave Slotwinski, President of the WA State Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America
                       


    WHAT:        Murray will meet with military families, local behavioral health experts to discuss her amendment ensuring access to health coverage for children with disabilities


    WHEN:        Tuesday, November 26th, 2013     
              10:00 AM PT


    WHERE:     The Haring Center
                          University of Washington Medical Center (South end of the UW campus)
                          Seattle, WA 98195


     
    murray illustration
     
    ###
    Sean Coit
    Press Secretary
    Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
    202-224-2834







     
     
     
    RSS Feed for Senator Murray's office







     

    The Jewish archives

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    In today's snapshot, C.I. calls out Lisa Leff's stupidity.

    I just want to add to that.

    The issue is the trove of Jewish artifacts.  Should they go to the Jewish community or be returned to Iraq?

    In the face of this very important issue, Ms. Leff, writing for a Jewish magazine, no less, wants to make it all about grammer.

    Is the deeply stupid woman not only unaware of what the Jews in Iraq went through in the 50s and forward but also unaware that Iraq sided with Hitler in WWII?  And Jews were targeted as a result?


    Rory Cohen (O.C. Register) explains:


    Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and one of the initial members of the Muslim Brotherhood, became a Nazi agent after meeting Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Holocaust, in 1937. With Nazi funds, al-Husseini organized the Arab Revolt of 1936-39. In 1941, the mufti orchestrated a short-lived, Nazi-backed generals' coup in Iraq. The coup was followed by the Farhud, a vicious pogrom.

    It's an event that is indelibly imprinted in the consciousness of Iraq's Jews.

    The Mufti obtained Hitler's assurance in November 1941 that, after dealing with the Jews of Europe, Hitler would treat the Jews of the Middle East similarly. In a two-day period, mobs rampaged in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. At least 150 Jews were killed and more than 2,000 injured; some 900 Jewish homes were destroyed and looted; and hundreds of Jewish-owned shops were robbed and destroyed.

    My older family members recall witnessing how soldiers pulled small children away from their parents and ripped the arms off young girls to steal their bracelets; pregnant women were raped and their stomachs cut open. My grandfather rescued his little brother when the violence began. My great-grandfather claimed to be a Muslim when Iraqi troops stormed their home. That was how he saved himself and his daughters, including my grandmother. Many of his neighbors weren't so lucky.


    There are serious issues here.  Grammer and word choice are not the big ones.

    Ms. Leff wasted everyone's time.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    Tuesday, November 26, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, assassination attempts increase, the KRG speaks out against violence against women while Baghdad is largely silent, more executions are carried out, we review the Jewish archives, and more.



    In 2006 a number of things regarding Iraq became clear.  Among them was that you can't play red-light-green-light with Iraq.  You can't dash in and then dash out, checking out for months at a time.  Well you can.  You can do that if you want to look stupid.

    Phyllis Bennis looked like the world's biggest idiot going on CounterSpin and raging over how little the US cared about the deaths of Iraqis as evidenced by the refusal to do keep a body count.  Poor Phyllis, it had been reported months ago that there was a count.  But she was off on Lebanon and Palestine and she'd checked out on Iraq but thought she could weigh in with an 'informed opinion.' She couldn't.  She still struggles to this day because she pays damn little attention.

    Another lesson that's emerged is people can't just discover Iraq as a topic.  It's starting to become to clear, as an e-mail today noted, why outlets would assign people to various beats and keep them on it.  This allowed the reporter to be informed and to have some perspective.

    What's the alternative?


    The garbage Adam Chandler serves up at Tablet.  And he references Lisa Leff's earlier 'report' so it's like a foundation of stupidity with a light dusting of ignorance powder.

    Lisa Leff's big concern was that some people were calling the trove of Jewish artifacts discovered wasting in water in 2003 an "archive" and that's "misleading" because blah, blah, blah.  We don't have time to quote idiots in full.  Her definition?  That's actually how the trove was used prior to be it stolen by the Iraqi government.  She doesn't know a damn thing and, if you doubt that, the US National Archives have digitized every page and created a website for it.  What did this US governent body responsible for archiving call the site?  Preserving The Iraqi Jewish Archive.  Not creating a new archive, preserving an existing one.

    Adam Chandler knows even less.   He wants to cite Reuters ("A National Archives spokeswoman said the materials, whose removal from Baghdad was agreed in 2003 - when a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam and the country lurched into widespread sectarian turmoil - would be going back to Iraq and the decision was made by the U.S. State Department.") and insist this decision was just made.


    Let's drop back to the June 21st snapshot -- pay attention, Dunce Chandler and Dunce Leff, if you're capable of learning, you just might -- for the National Archives statement:


    Washington, DC…On Friday, October 11, 2013, the National Archives will unveil a new exhibition, “Discovery and Recovery: Preserving Iraqi Jewish Heritage.” The exhibit details the dramatic recovery of historic materials relating to the Jewish community in Iraq from a flooded basement in Saddam Hussein’s intelligence headquarters, and the National Archives’ ongoing work in support of U.S. Government efforts to preserve these materials. Located in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, “Discovery and Recovery” is free and open to the public and runs through January 5, 2014.
    In both English and Arabic, the 2,000 square foot exhibit features 24 recovered items and a “behind the scenes” video of the fascinating yet painstaking preservation process. This exhibit marks the first time these items have been on public display.


    Background

    On May 6, 2003, just days after the Coalition forces took over Baghdad, 16 American soldiers from Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha, a group assigned to search for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, entered Saddam Hussein’s flooded intelligence building. In the basement, under four feet of water, they found thousands of books and documents relating to the Jewish community of Iraq – materials that had belonged to synagogues and Jewish organizations in Baghdad.
    The water-logged materials quickly became moldy in Baghdad’s intense heat and humidity. Seeking guidance, the Coalition Provisional Authority placed an urgent call to the nation’s foremost conservation experts at the National Archives. Just a week later, National Archives Director of Preservation Programs Doris Hamburg and Conservation Chief Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler arrived in Baghdad via military transport to assess the damage and make recommendations for preservation of the materials. Both experts share this extraordinary story and take you “behind the scenes” in this brief video [http://tinyurl.com/IraqiJA]. This video is in the public domain and not subject to any copyright restrictions. The National Archives encourages its use and free distribution.
    Given limited treatment options in Baghdad, and with the agreement of Iraqi representatives, the materials were shipped to the United States for preservation and exhibition. Since then, these materials have been vacuum freeze-dried, preserved and photographed under the direction of the National Archives. The collection includes more than 2,700 Jewish books and tens of thousands of documents in Hebrew, Arabic, Judeo-Arabic and English, dating from 1540 to the 1970s. A special website to launch this fall will make these historic materials freely available to all online as they are digitized and catalogued. This work was made possible through the assistance of the Department of State, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Center for Jewish History.
    The Jews of Iraq have a rich past, extending back to Babylonia. These materials provide a tangible link to this community that flourished there, but in the second half of the twentieth century dispersed throughout the world. Today, fewer than five Jews remain.

    Display highlights include:


    • A Hebrew Bible with Commentaries from 1568 – one of the oldest books in the trove;
    • A Babylonian Talmud from 1793;
    • A Torah scroll fragment from Genesis - one of the 48 Torah scroll fragments found;
    • A Zohar from 1815 – a text for the mystical and spiritual Jewish movement known as “Kabbalah”;
    • An official 1918 letter to the Chief Rabbi regarding the allotment of sheep for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year);
    • Materials from Jewish schools in Baghdad, including exam grades and a letter to the College Entrance Examination Board in Princeton regarding SAT scores;
    • A Haggadah (Passover script) from 1902, hand lettered and decorated by an Iraqi Jewish youth ; and
    • A lunar calendar in both Hebrew and Arabic from the Jewish year 5732 (1972-1973) - one of the last examples of Hebrew printed items produced in Baghdad.
    “Discovery and Recovery” is divided into six sections:
    Discovery: The dramatic story of how these materials were found, rescued and preserved is one worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. A short film captures these heroic efforts. The section includes actual metal foot lockers used to ship the documents to the United States.
    Text and Heritage: This section explores Iraqi Jewish history and tradition through recovered texts, including a Torah scroll fragment, a Hebrew Bible with Commentaries from 1568, and a Babylonian Talmud from 1793.
    Iraqi Jewish Life: Constancy and Change: Using recovered texts, this section explores the pattern of Jewish life in Iraq. Highlights include a Haggadah (Passover script), siddur (prayer book) and an illustrated lunar calendar in both Hebrew and Arabic (one of about 20 found, dating from 1959-1973).
    Personal and Communal Life: Selected correspondence and publications illustrate the range and complexity of Iraqi Jewish life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Original documents and facsimiles in flipbooks range from school primers to international business correspondence from the Sassoon family.
    After the Millennia: Iraqi Jewish life unraveled in the mid-20th century, with the rise of Nazism and proliferation of anti-Jewish propaganda. In June 1941, 180 Jews were killed and hundreds injured in an anti-Jewish attack in Baghdad. Persecution increased when Iraq entered the war against the new State of Israel in 1948. In 1950 and 1951, many Iraqi Jews were stripped of their citizenship and assets and the community fled the county en masse. This section includes the 1951 law freezing assets of Iraqi Jews.
    Preserving the Past: It is not surprising that the Coalition Forces turned to National Archives conservators for help. Learn about transformation of these materials from moldy, water-logged masses to a carefully preserved, enduring historic legacy. View the National Archives’ state-of-the-art treatment, preservation, and digitization of these materials.
    The Fall issue of Prologue Magazine, the Archives’ flagship publication, will feature two articles on “Discovery and Recovery.” Prologue is available in the Archives Shop.

    National Archives Preservation and Conservation

    The Conservation Department cares for the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and other founding documents, as well as billions of other records. In state-of-the-art preservation labs, staff assess the condition of records and identify their composition. Experts stabilize and treat documents to prepare them for digitization, exhibition, and use by researchers. A “conservator-on-call” team is ready to provide guidance for any records emergency at National Archives facilities nationwide. National Archives conservation experts also serve as “first preservers” and provide aid to other agencies and offices following disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

    The National Archives is located on the National Mall on Constitution Avenue at 9th Street, NW. Hours are 10 AM-5 PM.

    # # #
    For more information on or to obtain images of items included in the exhibition, call the National Archives Public Affairs staff at 202-357-5300.





    Lisa Leff is deeply stupid.  So caught up in word use, she doesn't even realize she doesn't know a damn thing she's talking about.

    The Jews of Iraq did not abandon those documents, they were stolen by the Iraqi government in 1984. The 'wave' Leff thinks she knows about?  These documents were left in a Baghdad synagogue (on the second floor).  This was not an abandoned synagogue but a temple for Jews who chose to remain in Iraq.  It was from this active synagogue that the documents were stolen.


    It was the Iraqi government that stashed them in a basement.  Jews were still in Iraq in the 80s.  Since 2003, most have fled.  AP reported last month that the last rabbi left Iraq in 2006.  They didn't name him, but it was Rabbi Emad Levy.  By 2008, there were nine remaining Jews in Iraq (read this WikiLeaks published State Dept cable).   The whispered number is 3 Jews remain in Iraq (in Baghdad) but that comes from a 'religious leader' (non-Iraqi) who was caught lying in testimony by IPS (he'd testified in '06 that there were no Jews left in Iraq when there were -- and he got angry at the IPS reporter insisting his public testimony wasn't supposed to be public so IPS shouldn't report on it).  I'm not even in the mood to mention that British liar's name.  We ignore him and have due to his lying.  Most Iraqis in and around Baghdad consider him a snitch and have throughout the illegal war. So he's got bad reputation pretty much everywhere he goes.

    This is stolen property.  It was stolen in 1984.  The government of Saddam Hussein is no more.  That doesn't mean, legally or ethically, that Nouri or Iraq has a claim on these documents.

    Adam Chandler, the plan has always been that the documents would be returned.  There is serious objection to this, as their should be.

    The US government should have determined ownership before entering into a contract.

    However, the US government being left red-faced with embarrassment?  That doesn't override the owners' rights to the property in question.

    It belongs to the Jewish community.  Since 2003, Iraq's worked overtime to kill Jews and run them off.  Now they want to insist that Jewish property belongs to the Iraqi government?

    In what world?


    Not in the world of Congress.  November 13th,  Brett McGurk, the State Dept's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, appeared  Wednesday before the  US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa (see the Nov. 15th "Iraq snapshot," the Nov. 14th "Iraq snapshot" and the Nov. 13th "Iraq snapshot").  The Subcommittee made clear, repeatedly, their position.  Here are a few examples.





    Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:  Before we begin this afternoon's hearing I will hand Deputy Assistant Secretary McGurk an envelope and ask that he please deliver it to Secretary [of State John] Kerry.  These are my previous letters to Kerry pleading for the United States to help the residents of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty and to prevent another deadly attack like the one from September at Camp Ashraf which left 52 dead and 7 hostages who are still missing. There's also a video taken by the residents of Camp Ashraf during the last assault that I urge Secretary Kerry and all members of this Subcommittee to view.  And finally, a letter to Secretary Kerry regarding the return of Iraqi-Jewish community artifacts that are now on display at The National Archives.  In 2003, US and coalition forces found a  trove of Iraqi-Jewish cultural artifacts being warehoused in the basement of Saddam Hussein's secret police headquarters.  And the US subsequently brought them here, to The National Archives, for restoration, preservation and display; however, these artifacts are scheduled to be returned to Iraq where the government will claim possession of these artifacts which were unjustly taken from the Iraqi-Jewish community.  The US government must not return those stolen treasures to the Iraqi government but instead should facilitate their return to their rightful owners or descendants.  Therefore, on behalf of me, Congressman Steve Israel and over 40 of our House colleagues, we ask you, Deputy Secretary McGurk, to personally deliver this letter to Secretary Kerry and the Dept of State ensures that the Iraqi-Jewish community does not get robbed again of its collective memory and treasures. 


    [. . .]

    Ranking Member Ted Deutch:  I'd actually like to get back to the issue of the archives.  And you said that you're "open to discussions." And these are just a couple of observations -- and I appreciate the attention that you've paid to this issue already.  Iraq, Babylon, was the center of Judaism for a thousand years and-and these documents, tattered as they were, found a decade ago are -- according to the agreement that was reached with the -- with the Coalition Provisional Authority were supposed to be sent -- were supposed to be sent back to a place where the number of Jews, the number is perhaps in the single digits.  The documents -- many of the documents are very personal in nature, records of the community, things that are of real value to the members of the community and their descendants who simply aren't there.  So help me.   I understand what the agreement was.  You've also said you're now open to discussions. And can we explore that a little bit?  Can we explore that a little bit?  And if you could just continue where you left off?   What discussion can we have?  And what can we do?  What -- what would be the hold up to ensure that these items are so, so personal to the community that is no longer living in the country can actually reside with the community?


    [. . .]

    US House Rep Grace Meng:  Regarding the issue of Iraqi Jewish artifacts that are currently on display in The National Archives, I want to especially acknowledge and thank Congresswoman [Ileanna] Ros-Lehtinen, Congressman [Steve] Israel and Senator [Chuck] Schumer for their leadership on this issue.  Rescued from Baghdad in 2003, the collection of ancient artifacts include letters, books and personal photos that were left behind by Jews after WWII who experienced extreme anti-Semiticsm including harassment and violence.  It is imperative that these artifacts are returned to the descendents of the Jewish community from which they were wrongly confiscated and not the Iraqi government.  We must ensure that justice for the Iraqi Jewish community.




    That's just three examples, we can provide more.   US House Rep Grace Meng thanked Senator Chuck Schumer, Subcommittee Chair Illeanna Ros-Lehtinen and US House Rep Steve Israel because they had sent open letters to the White House calling for the trove, artifacts, archive not to be handed over to Iraq.

    This is not a minor issue.  Cultural heritage is not minor.  If it were, the US Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) would not work so hard to track down stolen Iraqi artifacts and return them to Iraq,


    Today, Sylvia Westall and Jonathan Saul (Reuters) quote the World Organisation of Jews from Iraq's Cynthia Kaplan Shamash stating, "Returning the collection to a Jewish-free Iraq in the current conditions is incomprehensible and unacceptable." And they quote Edwin Shuker, whose school certificate is pat of the documents set to be returned, stating, "It is not a sectarian issue.  Nothing is safe, no shrine or holy place let alone a site where Jewish artefacts are stored.  There is a complete breakdown in safety and security in Iraq now."

    That is correct.  Iraq is still neither safe nor secure.  That's why Iraqis continue to flee the country.   Al Rafidayn reports the kingdom of Jordan has issued an apology for the treatment of some Iraqis crossing the border -- the article says Iraqis have been harassed (it does not define how) -- and declaring that this is not the policy of Jordan.

    Here's what should happen right this minute.  The World Organisation of Jews from Iraq should filed in federal court on behalf of Shuker for his document -- it clearly belongs to him.  In addition, they should  argue that other artifacts can be traced and, even if they can't, Shuker and others would have legal claim -- especially if they were making a community claim and not a singular one.  It should be argued that those living today whose family names can be found within the trove have more of a claim on the collection than does anyone in the Iraqi government.  This would delay any transfer to Iraq and they could win the case.  They could win on legal grounds or they could win on electoral grounds.  Electoral grounds?  2014 is an election year.  Would the White House go up against so many Americans?


    Doubtful.

    Saad Eskander is the head of the Iraq National Library and Archive.  Eric Tucker and Randy Herschaft (AP) quoted Eskander earlier this month stating, "Now, Iraqis have no problem in accepting the fact that the Jews are true Iraqi patriots who can live with their culture in a multicultural society, "

    Now they do?

    After the last Iraqis are run out of the country?

    As for the ridiculous claim of a multicultural society -- the government out of Baghdad doesn't recognize that.  At the start of 2007, Nouri al-Maliki signed off on the White House benchmarks for success in Iraq.  The Council on Foreign Relations has a write up here, the benchmark we're referring to is this one:


    Reversal of de-Baathification laws.The Iraqi parliament passed the Justice and Accountability Law on January 12, 2008, clearing the way for an estimated thirty-thousand low-ranking ex-Baathists to return to public life. The law also allowed some party members to collect pensions. But some Sunnis argue the law has made matters worse for them by opening the door to federal prosecution, barring top-ranking officials from regaining jobs, and restricting former Saddam security forces from reintegration. The drive to rescind de-Baathification laws was part of a larger effort to make constitutional concessions to minority groups like Sunni Arabs.



    That's still not happened.  Nouri's targeting Sunnis. That's no longer even debatable.  As Tim Arango (New York Times) reported last September, Nouri has armed Shi'ite militias to kill Sunnis in Iraq:


    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.


    Not only that, but Aswat al-Iraq reported last week, "Parliamentary Deputy Sepaker Aref Taifour called the federal government to submit an apology for the Kurdish people for the atrocities of the previous governments.  He pointed out that 'some are still believing that the Kurds are second-[class] citizens,' calling Iraqi officials to follow the Turkish type in their apology to the Kurds."

    That apology won't be coming anytime soon.

    Multicultural Iraq?

    Al Rafidayn reports a young girl was slapped in school for not wearing a veil, slapped by the teacher, and the uproar has the Ministry of Education investigating the incident.   Earlier this month,  the CEO of Thomson Reuters Foundation, Monique Villas, (at Huffington Post) noted violence against women:



    The picture is grim. A perception poll of gender experts by the Thomson Reuters Foundation shows that the rise of political Islam across Arab Spring countries has had a real impact on secularism. Almost three years after popular uprisings toppled autocratic leaders in one of the most conservative corners of the world, three out of five Arab Spring countries rank among the bottom five states for women's rights
    Many political gains for women have been lost. In fact, women are struggling to preserve their dignity, and far from progressing, they are now fighting to preserve the rights they had before the Arab Spring. 
    [. . .]
    Life is not much better in Iraq, second-worst country for women's rights in the region, according to the survey.
    The experts said that radical Islamisation of society, sectarian violence and a reaction against what many see as western imperialism in the years after the 2003 invasion were all having a devastating impact on women.
    The "war on terror" has made widows of 1.6 million Iraqi women, leaving them without income and with few prospects of employment. In Iraq, only 14.5 percent of the entire female population is employed, and women have lost their voice in political circles. Mass displacement has made them vulnerable to trafficking and sexual violence.


    The response from Iraq?  The Ministry of Human Rights attacked it.  So did the Ministry of Women.  The latter insisted the report was "inaccurate" and that Reuters had "no clear-cut knowledge of Iraq and its laws." If you're wondering why the Ministry of Women didn't speak up in support of the young girl slapped, it's because the Minister has stated that women have no rights.  She's a chauvinist, a sexist and hateful pig.  She attempted to institute a dress code -- for women only -- and she's done nothing to speak out or support Iraqi women who don't wear the hijab.
    We've long noted the gender-traitor Ibithal al-Zaydi (see, for example, the February 3, 2012 snapshot).  Mufid Abdlulla (Kurdistan Triune) quoted the gender-traitor's most infamous remarks: 

    I am against the equality between men and woman.  If women are equal to men they are going to lose a lot.  Up to now I am with the power of the man in society: If I go out of my house: I have to tell my husband where I am going.  This does not mean diluting the role of woman in society but, on the contrary, it will bring more power to the woman as a mother who looks after their kids and brings up their children.
    She's in a position of authority and she's arguing against women's rights.  She's also supposed to represent all women and yet she doesn't.  In Iraq, as in every country, there are women who will never have children (by choice or due to fertility issues -- of the woman or the man), there are women who will never marry.  And Iraq is a land of widows.  Not only is she harming women's rights but she's even rendering women invisible.
    Back in March, Rania Khalek (Muftah) noted it wasn't always women under attack in Iraq:
    Contrary to popular imagination, Iraqi women enjoyed far more freedom under Saddam Hussein’s secular Ba’athist government than women in other Middle Eastern countries. In fact, equal rights for women were enshrined in Iraq’s Constitution in 1970, including the right to vote, run for political office, access education and own property. Today, these rights are all but absent under the U.S.-backed government of Nouri al-Maliki.
    Prior to the devastating economic sanctions of the 1990s, Iraq’s education system was top notch and female literacy rates were the highest in the region, reaching 87 percent in 1985. Education was a major priority for Saddam Hussein’s regime, so much so that in 1982 Iraq received the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) award for eradicating illiteracy. But the education system crumbled from financial decay under the weight of the sanctions pushing over 20 percent of Iraqi children out of school by 2000 and reversing decades of literacy gains. Today, a quarter of Iraqi women are illiterate, more than double the rate for Iraqi men (11 percent). Female illiteracy in rural areas alone is as high as 50 percent.
    Women were integral to Iraq’s economy and held high positions in both the private and public sectors, thanks in large part to labor and employment laws that guaranteed equal pay, six months fully paid maternity leave and protection from sexual harassment. In fact, it can be argued that some of the conditions enjoyed by working women in Iraq before the war rivaled those of working women in the United States.
    BBC News has a photo essay entitled 'In Pictures: Women At Risk In Iraq." Umed Sami (Kirkuk Now) reported Sunday that it is Domestic Violence Awareness Week which actually lasts two weeks and that there are many different actions because there are "20 women's rights organizations in Kirkuk." From the article:


    No to Violence against Women is a women’s rights organization founded by a group of women’s rights activists back in 2010.  It is one of the organizations planning to organize a protest rally on November 25 in front of the governor’s office as they protest against the poor conditions of women’s rights and their struggles.
    In the meantime, the Kurdistan Women’s Union, a women’s organization affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party of Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim, is a member of the political bureau boycotting the activities of No to Violence against Women and who view their rally as an “opposition against the governor and not demanding the women’s rights.”
    Women’s activist Naska Muhammad told Kirkuk Now “The majority of the women’s rights organizations have boycotted the rally as we feel it is more targeted against the governor and it is politically driven.”
    The Kurdistan Regional Government noted the kick off on Monday and that Monday was International Day Against Violence Against Women (that's a United Nations day around the world).  KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani addressed a large group of men and women -- including ministers of government, MPs in the Iraqi Parliament and the Kurdish Parliament, regional official and diplomats --  in Erbil.  Barzani noted that violence against women is violence against human rights and the issue is not a 'women's issue' but one for the entire community to work on.  He called for justice which means changing the laws in the KRG so that the light penalities for husbands killing wives are eliminated (he noted the KRG law currently mirrors the law for the rest of Iraq).  He noted that they need to address the issue of child brides and the practice of female genital mutilation.  He cited figures finding that reported violence against women had fallen in 2012 but he stated that the gains were not enough and the community needed to work harder to address the issue.
    Iraq's Human Rights Ministry also had an event.  Compare the photos.  Even if you can't read Arabic, you'll note many things.  For example, the Baghdad turnout?  Not that impressive in terms of numbers. The KRG photo displays ten packed rows of attendees (and the photo cuts off with the impression that there are rows not displayed in the photo).  In Baghdad, they take up about six rows -- with a lot of empty spaces.  In the KRG, you see shiny, healthy hair on the heads of men and women.  In Baghdad, most women have their hair covered.  (Four brave women on the second row do not cover their hair.) Nouri's Prime Minister of Iraq.  Did he address the gathering?
    Nope. 
    He couldn't be bothered with the topic.  
    Ibithal al-Zaidi was present.  Declaring she (now) believes in equality between the sexes -- based on the law and religions.   Whatever.  
    How important was the event?  
    They don't even bother to finish the press release -- it cuts off before the end of the release.
    Nouri should have been present.  By refusing to show up for the Baghdad event, let alone speak at it, he made clear that violence against women does not qualify as a serious issue to him.

    We're not done with the KRG yet.  Al Mada reports that KRG President Massoud Barzani issued a statement decrying violence against women saying it was inhumane and against the basic principals of humanity.  He noted the sacrifices and actions Iraqi women had taken part in to create a better Iraq and called for rights to live safely and free from oppression, discrimination and violence.
    Let's drop back to September for Joel Brinkley's San Francisco Chronicle profile of the Iraq Ambassador to the US, Lukman Faily:
    Yes, the Middle East is aflame, as Faily put it. And Iraq is in deep trouble, like most of the region. Almost daily, 20, 30, 50 or more people die in terrorist attacks that generally involve Sunnis killing Shiites or vice versa. Eighty-three people died in attacks Sunday through Tuesday, bringing the total dead so far this year to more than 3,800.
    But Faily said his government is not asking the United States to return troops to Iraq. No, he said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki yanked him from his position as ambassador to Japan and sent him to America a few months ago to carry the message: We need help with governance.
    Falih Hassan Fezaa (Rudaw) notes the interview today and points out:

    Faily stated that Iraq was “sitting on billions of barrels of oil. But no one has clean water.”
    He stated in no certain terms that daily life in Iraq is deteriorating, lacking in clean water, a workable budget, modern technology and efforts to fight corruption.
    Based on Mr Faily’s statements, I had thought that Baghdad’s Islamist rulers had finally realized their failures, and were looking to America for help.
    But then, when Maliki visited Washington earlier this month, he reportedly asked for more weapons, instead of help with things like water and electricity. This is a dysfunctional government with no real military capabilities.
    More than 10 years since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, the Shiite Islamists in Baghdad have failed to govern, while the Kurds have succeeded in carving out an autonomous and historic safe haven for themselves in the midst of Iraq’s sea of violence. These are parallel tales of failure and success.


    The editorial board of the Gulf News observes, "It is abundantly clear that the Nouri Al Maliki government has failed Iraqis miserably. It has done nothing to address the root causes of the unrest, especially when it comes to complaints of discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities."


    Violence continued today.  Al Mada notes there was a wave of assassinations and assassination attempts.   National Iraqi News Agency reports 1 person shot dead in Khalis, preacher and Iman Rakan Hussein al-Naimi was injured by gunfire in a Rilkaif assassination attempt. Sheikh Ghadanfar al-Mahdawi survived (without injury) an attempted assassination "between Baqbua and Muqdadiyah," a Falluja sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer, 1 police officer was shot dead in Baghdad, a Falluja roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left two more injured, and the corpses of Sheikh Adnan al-Ghanem and Sheikh Kadhim al-Jubouri were discovered in Basra.  All Iraq News adds that the Mayor of Shuqiara Sufla Village, Jasim Mohammed al-Jubouri, was assassinated.


    Executions also made the news cycle today. Dropping back to the November 18th snapshot for some numbers:


     Ammar Karim (AFP) reports that Nouri's government boasted today that they had executed 12 more 'terrorists' today.  By October 10, the number executed was at least 132 so that brings the total to 144.  In their yearly high, Iraq executed at least 130 people in 2012.  2013 will continue their yearly increase.  Kitabat reports that the official making the announcement today refused to provide his name.  Kitabat's count is 144 for the year as well.   Here are the figures for the previous three years, as offered by Kitabat:

    2010 18 executions
    2011 67 executions
    2012 123 executions


    November 22nd came an announcement of 7 more deaths bringing the total to 151.  Salam Faraj (AFP) reports 11 more executions were announced today -- the eleven were hanged on Sunday.  Faraj notes Sunday's executions bring the total number to 162.



    In 2012, Iraq came in third for most executions.  (The US was fifth.)  It is known to have executed 129 which placed it behind Iran with 314 and behind China with no provided number.  Figures are from Amnesty International's [PDF format warning] Death Sentences And Executions 2012.






















    About the Warren Commission Report

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    Community member Iwana e-mailed Jim DiEugenio's "Where New JFK Evidence Points" which I missed.  This is a really important article.  For my excerpt, I am going with The Warren Commission Report:


    When the Warren Commission verdict was formally announced in the fall of 1964, one of the reasons it appeared authoritative was that it was presented as being unanimous. Seven storied public figures had agreed on each and every aspect of the case against Oswald. Today we know that this was not true.

    The best evidence demonstrating its falsity is the Commission’s treatment of Sen. Richard Russell, D-Georgia. For a master’s thesis produced under McKnight’s guidance in 2002, Dani E. Biancolli went through the Russell archive at the University of Georgia.

    Almost from the beginning, Russell had problems with the way the Commission was doing business. For instance, Russell was puzzled that the FBI report did not allow for the single-bullet theory. It stated that two separate shots hit Kennedy and one hit Connally. If that is not confusing enough, when the CIA analyzed the Zapruder film, they decided there were two assassins. (McKnight, p. 6)

    Russell was not satisfied by the hastily assembled FBI report. He also objected to the fact that Hoover was leaking its findings to the press, making it difficult for the Commission to maintain its independence in the face of public perceptions. Being an experienced trial lawyer, he also began to notice that the Commission was not notifying him when important witnesses would be testifying, e.g. Oswald’s brother, Robert. (Biancolli, p. 46)

    Russell also noted that the CIA was giving certain members of the Commission more information than others. Troubled by the overall proceedings, Russell wrote a memo to himself which began with the phrase, “Something strange is happening.” He then noted that the Commission was only going to consider Oswald as the assassin. To lawyer Russell, this was “an untenable position.” (ibid, p. 47) Russell was so disturbed by the way the Commission was progressing that he actually composed a letter of resignation to President Lyndon Johnson.

    Russell took the step of drafting an official dissent to the Warren Report. And he wanted the report to contain his reservations about the Magic Bullet. (ibid, p. 63) Aware of this, the more active members of the Commission – Gerald Ford, Allen Dulles, John McCloy and chief counsel Lee Rankin – tricked Russell. They had discontinued their dealings with their stenography service prior to the final meeting where Russell was to present his dissent. But they did have a secretary in the room to create the pretense that a full transcript was being recorded. (ibid, p. 65) No such thing occurred.

    Russell was so effective in his presentation at this meeting that he was joined in the effort by Sen. John Sherman Cooper, R-Kentucky, and to a lesser extent by Rep. Hale Boggs, D-Louisiana. But Russell’s eloquent dissent was not recorded in the transcript. In fact, there really is no transcript of this Sept. 18, 1964 meeting. (ibid, pgs. 63-64) With no transcript available, none of Russell’s objections made it into the Warren Report. Thus, the false veneer of a unanimous Commission was maintained.

    Further showing how compromised the Warren Commission was, it is clear today that the Commission demanded little respect from the intelligence agencies supplying it with information. For instance, as ARRB employee Doug Horne discovered, Commission counsel Arlen Specter requested the Secret Service produce any tapes of the Nov. 22 press conference by the doctors at Parkland Hospital. Even though they had a recording, the Secret Service failed to turn it over to the Commission. Perhaps because during the interview, Dr. Malcolm Perry said three times that the wound to Kennedy’s throat was one of entrance. If that were true, Oswald could not have caused it.

    The CIA also sent the Commission very limited information about Oswald’s alleged trip to Mexico City. For instance, the CIA did not send any information to the Commission about any of the phone taps they had at the Cuban or Russian embassies. And there is no evidence that the Commission ever knew who did the translation for the intercepts of incoming phone calls.

    Further, the Commission never interviewed Silvia Duran, the receptionist at the Cuban consulate, the person who had the most contact with Oswald. Because of these failings, the information in the Warren Report about Oswald in Mexico City, which many people today see as crucial, is so skimpy as to be almost useless.

    This is really a great article.

    Thank you, Iwana, for passing it on.

    It has so much in it.  It needs to be a book.  Make a point to read it.

    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:  


    Wednesday, November 27, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri tries to spin a business success, the KRG upstages Nouri, Jen Psaki throws a hissy fit, the State Dept makes clear just how little they value Sunni lives, corpses in the streets of Iraq, and more.



    The Press Association reports, "The opening of the first branch of a British bank in Iraq has been hailed by its prime minister as a sign of new international trust in the country, and a testament to the ongoing friendship between the new nations. Speaking at the opening of the branch of Standard Chartered in Baghdad, prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki paid tribute to Britain for its support as the two countries continue to work to help Iraq rebuild itself after years of conflict."

    Oh, that's so cute.

    For Iraq and Standard.  In 2012, Jonathan Stempel and Carrick Mollenkamp (Reuters) reported:

    In a rare move, New York's top bank regulator threatened to strip the state banking license of Standard Chartered Plc, saying it was a "rogue institution" that hid $250 billion in transactions tied to Iran, in violation of U.S. law.

    The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) on Monday said the British bank "schemed" with the Iranian government and hid from law-enforcement officials some 60,000 secret transactions to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in fees over nearly 10 years.


    In other words, what really happened today is that a rogue bank opened a branch in a rogue state.

    And it's not really a British bank, is it?  As Standard Charted notes, "We operate in some of the world's most dynamic markets and have been for over 150 years.  More than 90 per cent of our income and profits are derived from Asia, Africa and the Middle East."

    They already operate in Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

    So the customers aren't primarily British.  But the bank, the bank itself is British!

    No, you can't be a "multi-national" -- which Standard Charted is -- and belong to one country.  Or did we forget the meaning of "multi" in "multi-national"?  It was founded in South Africa.  It only 'divested' itself of South Africa (where it was part of the blood diamond trade) in 1987 -- at the point when everyone else with integrity had long ago left.  Scan Wikipedia and you'll see quickly that "no integrity" really sums up Standard Charted which is forever in trouble in India and which attempted bribery in the Philippins and Malaysia.  They got into trouble for inflating claims -- trouble with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

    In other words, they should be perfectly at home in Nouri's corrupt Iraq.

    Poor Nouri, this was his big moment and so much of nothing.

    This month Hyatt announced a new Hyatt Regency . . . in Iraq.  But Nouri can't get excited, the hotel will be in semi-autonomous northern region governed by the KRG.  And Kelly Clarke (Khaleej Times) reported two weeks ago:

    During a conference unveiling a new multi-billion dollar development to go up in the Kurdistan region’s capital, Erbil, last month, Emaar chairman Mohamed Alabbar said it hopes to ‘close similar deals with the country’s government in the future’, building on its already growing economy.
    [. . .]
    “To have such an international brand like Emaar coming in is a big step up for the development of the area and it will surely create confidence,” he (real estate agent and CEO for Elite Homes Ali Asad] told Khaleej Times.
    Asked why he thinks one of the world’s biggest property developers has chosen to develop in Erbil, rather than Baghdad, where property prices are higher, he said it was simple.
    “If they want a footstep into Iraq, Erbil is the perfect place, because it’s secure,” however Asad did mention the Downtown Erbil development will undoubtedly create inflation in the area, as listed prices are already considerably higher than similar developments in the area.



    Not everything's in the KRG.

    For example, today the KRG Prime Minister wasn't.  He was in Ankara.

    National Iraqi News Agency reports that Nijervan Barzani met with Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the two discussed "the issue of oil exporting from Kurdistan region to Turkey." All Iraq News quotes"Turkish sources" stating, "Erdogan signed many conventions with Barzani in oil and gas sectors and after the three hour meeting he announced his intention to visit Baghdad and Erbil to assure the desire of Turkey in promoting relations with all Iraqi components."


    The pipeline could assist with the oil exports that are already taking place between the KRG and Turkey.  Seyfettin Gursel (Al-Monitor) reports:

    Oil production in the region controlled by the KRG is 300,000 barrels per day. About two-thirds of this amount is exported to Turkey in tanker trucks. This is a tedious and expensive method. Nevertheless, the KRG revenues — which were at $150 million seven years ago — have risen to $12 billion, and per capita income has climbed to $5,000 from $300. It is possible to boost the daily production to 1 million barrels with the operating wells. With proven and estimated oil reserves, this production will increase multifold in coming years. According to Celebi, yet-untapped natural gas reserves are estimated at 40 billion cubic meters. The KRG has already signed deals with international oil companies for production and to build the pipelines that would cross Turkey.
    Even limited oil-production revenues have raised Turkey’s exports to Iraq to above $10 billion, which comes after Germany in Turkey’s primary export markets. It is, however, likely to occupy the top slot soon. According to Celebi, 90% of exports to Iraq go to Northern Iraq, with the rest going to the south of the country. Imagine how these numbers are going to multiply when the pipelines are completed and oil and natural gas starts to flow.


    Of today's meet-up, Asharq al-Awsat notes, "Speaking to CNNTurk television on Wednesday, Barzani confirmed that Iraq's Kurds are hoping to start pumping oil to Turkey before the end of the year via the Baghdad-controlled pipeline."AFP reports that Barzani declared before the meeting that the oil could be flowing, via the pipeline, to Turkey "before Christmas" (December 25th).

    Guess which cranky boy forgot Santa Claus was making a list of who was naughty and who was nice?
    Nouri al-Maliki.  AFP quotes Nouri's mouth piece Ali al-Mussawi conveying Nouri's fury, "The Iraqi government informed the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad of its strong opposition to signing the pipeline deal with KRG." And if that's got Nouri stomping his feet, whatever will he do in December?  That's when, Rudaw reports, a major commerce event takes place in the KRG:


    More than 100 international energy companies and 800 political and diplomatic figures are expected to attend the Kurdistan-Iraq Oil &  Gas Conference 2013 in Erbil next month, notably coinciding with historic oil exports by the Kurds. 
    The four-day conference opens Sunday, just as the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq begins to export oil directly to Turkey through its newly-extended pipeline.


    Maybe he'll have time to adjust?  But today, Nouri thought it was his day.  He'd dominate the news cycle by announcing a one-time tool of the British empire was invading Iraq.  Instead, all anyone cares about right now is what Barzani and Erdogan agreed to.


    How important is today's news?

    Nouri's not the only one throwing a hissy fit.  At the US State Dept press briefing today, spokesperson Jen Psaki took sides and acted like an idiot.  What a proud moment for the State Dept.


    QUESTION: About the energy deal between Turkey and KRG: The KRG Prime Minister Barzani, Nechirvan Barzani, was in Turkey yesterday and he told to the Turkish reporters there that the pipeline between Irbil and Turkey will start to carry all the oil next month, before the Christmas. So I know that you raised this – your concern on this issue with the Turks when Mr. Davutoglu was here, but what is the latest situation and what is your view on the latest arrangement of this --


    MS. PSAKI: Our view has not changed. We don’t support oil exports from any part of Iraq without approval of the Iraqi federal government. We continue to urge the federal government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government to reach a constitutional solution, and that has consistently been our position. And it also has not changed.


    QUESTION: There is a plan on the table that Turks are arguing that they’re going to accumulate the revenue, oil revenue, in a Turkish bank in Turkey, and then they gonna split the spoils arising from this energy resources between KRG and Baghdad. So 70 percent will be going to the Kurds, and the rest will be Baghdad. Are you okay with that plan?


    MS. PSAKI: I don’t have anything on that for you. Our position remains the same on this specific issue.


    QUESTION: Did you raise this issue with Mr. Davutoglu when was in town?


    MS. PSAKI: I will check and see if there’s more to report on our meeting with Foreign Minister Davutoglu.


    QUESTION: So, just so I understand correctly, you do stick to the principle that the central governments was responsible for the export of oil from Iraq?



    MS. PSAKI: That’s right, without approval of the Iraqi federal government.



    'We stay out of it! We stay out of it!  We support the Iraqi Constitution and the laws! It's not for us to decide!'

    Did I forget any of the lies that have been told from the State Dept podium?

    The State Dept doesn't give a damn about the Constitution of Iraq.  They don't give a damn about the Iraqi people.

    If you give a damn, you have something to say.

    Let's drop back to yesterday snapshot to underscore how damn little the State Dept cares about Iraq:

    National Iraqi News Agency reports 1 person shot dead in Khalis, preacher and Iman Rakan Hussein al-Naimi was injured by gunfire in a Rilkaif assassination attempt. Sheikh Ghadanfar al-Mahdawi survived (without injury) an attempted assassination "between Baqbua and Muqdadiyah," a Falluja sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer, 1 police officer was shot dead in Baghdad, a Falluja roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left two more injured, and the corpses of Sheikh Adnan al-Ghanem and Sheikh Kadhim al-Jubouri were discovered in Basra.  All Iraq News adds that the Mayor of Shuqiara Sufla Village, Jasim Mohammed al-Jubouri, was assassinated.


    Where's the statement from the State Dept.  On mayors?  That's at least the eighth one assassinated since October 1st. Where's the statement decrying that?

    Where's the State Dept on the assassinations of Sheikh Adnan al-Ghanem and Sheikh Kadhim al-Jubrouri?

    Two religious leaders are killed.  Jen Psaki didn't give a damn. She and the Dept she speaks for could care less.

    By contrast, All Iraq News reports:

    The Iraqi Scholars Assembly condemned the crimes of assassinations that targeted Sheikhs, Adnan al-Ghanim, and Kadhim al-Jobouri, in Basra province.
    The head of the Assembly stated to AIN "These crimes aim at arousing sectarianism."

    "The outlaw armed groups are behind these ugly crimes," he added.


    Please let it register in Iraq that when Sunni religious leaders are assassinated, the US government doesn't bat an eye and remains silent.

    Let's stop pretending that this White House is any different than the last.  They don't give a damn about the Sunni people.

    The White House is nothing but a maxipad for Nouri, to help prevent spotting.  When the maxipad is fully stained (Bully Boy Bush) a new one is applied (Barack Obama).

    The US Embassy in Baghdad is also silent as two Sunni Imams are assassinated.

    Silence is what Jen Psaki should have offered today.

    The State Dept may not like what the KRG does but (a) why should the KRG give a damn what the US government thinks or wants (seriously, after being stabbed in the back in November 2010, why should the KRG give a damn?) and (b) the KRG's actions are legal.

    Little Psaki was apparently unable to speak the truth but there's no oil law.

    Nouri was installed (by Bully Boy Bush) as prime minister to pass an oil law.  When Democrats were saying (pretending) they'd end the Iraq War if they got control of even one house of Congress in the 2006 mid-terms?  Well they got control of both houses of Congress and the White House quickly came up with a set of benchmarks that would prove 'progress' in Iraq -- so Congress wouldn't cut off funds. That was six years ago so let's cite a source for any who might be new to the topic.  From Gail Russell Chaddock (Christian Science Monitor, May 14, 2007):

    It's almost 100 days after President Bush requested emergency funds for the Iraq war, and Congress and the White House are converging on a deal that includes benchmarks for progress for the Iraqi government, including a national oil law and provincial elections.
    For Democrats now controlling Congress, these benchmarks – plucked right from the president's 2007 State of the Union address – are a way to avoid giving the White House "a blank check" on a war that a majority of Americans now oppose.


    Nouri agreed to meet the benchmarks.  Where's the oil law?

    Nouri couldn't get it through in his first term and he's failed in his second term.  Nouri introduces bills to the Parliament -- it's not like the US Congress.  Nouri's failed over and over.

    And it's no longer just an issue of the KRG.  As Abdullah Salem (Niqash) reported last week, Nineveh Province is making moves to handle the sale of their own oil:


    But the head of Ninawa's provincial legal committee, Nofal Hammadi al-Akoub, said that Baghdad was relying on out dated oil and gas laws – federal Iraq still doesn't have a national oil and gas law, even though Iraqi Kurdistan has passed it's own.


    Those older laws relate to the preservation of oil wealth by preventing illegal extraction of oil. However, as Hammadi al-Akoub points out, “the provincial council didn't authorise the extraction of oil. Rather they authorised investment in oil. In taking this decision they were relating back to a 2008 law that gives provincial councils this authority – so the Ministry can't actually object.”

    If there is any contesting of the council's decision to be done, “parliament is the only entity that has the right to do this and the Supreme Federal Court will make the final decision,” al-Akoub told NIQASH.


    But it is not only the Iraqi government that is upset by the invitation for tenders. Some of the critics of the local government move come from within the council itself. Different factions within the council are concerned that the move will open the door for more Iraqi Kurdish companies to enter the disputed territory, and put the Iraqi Kurds ahead in the battle over disputed territories within Ninawa. 


    With no national oil law what does that mean?

    It means there's nothing to prohibit the KRG from doing what they're doing.

    Jen Psaki can scream and rip out her own hair.  She can set herself on fire if she wants.

    None of that will change the fact that the KRG is acting within the law.

    Nor will it change the reality, the ugly truth, that the State Dept is not backing Iraq or the Iraqi people. It's nothing but a bloody maxipad kept in place to protect Nouri.


    The bleeding from violence never ends in Iraq.


    Duraid Adnan (New York Times) reports, "But on Wednesday, the daily tally of violence took on an air of pinpoint deliberation with the execution-style killings of several groups of civilians, a grim reminder of the worst days of sectarian warfare in the country. While major bombings have become common, the killings reintroduced the prospect of a resurgence in the type of violence that rattled Iraq in 2006 and 2007."  Salam Faraj (AFP) reminds:, "At the peak of sectarian fighting, Sunni and Shiite militiamen would regularly carry out tit-for-tat kidnappings and assassinations and leave scores of corpses littering the streets, many of them bound, blindfolded and showing signs of torture." Sinan Salaheddin (AP) also makes that point today, "Bodies were frequently found dumped during the height of Iraq's sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007, when the country was at the edge of civil war."



    Such as the never ending violence.  National Iraqi News Agency reports 1 suicide car bomber took his own life at a Habbaniyah police station entrance and he was followed by a suicide bomber wearing a belt with both bombings claimed the lives of 3 police officers with five more injured, an Albu Assaf suicide bomber  "blew himseful up at the gate of the police station,"1 "suicide car bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the headquarters of Peshmerga forces in Jabarah county of Khanqin" leaving 3 Peshmerga dead and ten more injured, an Abu Ghraib suicide bomber took his own life at a Baghdad funeral and killed 9 other people with twenty more left injured, an armed attack on a Mosul police station left one police officer and one detainee injured, a Qa'im roadside bombing left 1 Iraqi soldier dead and two more injured, 1 real estate worker was shot dead in Mosul, Hussein Sameer Malalah (Dept of Compensation employee) was shot dead in Mosul and Homam Adnan Ahmed (Dept of Energy employee) was shot dead in Mosul.  BBC News adds that "five members of the same family were shot dead in the mainly Shia district of Hurriya. The victims were reportedly Sunnis."

    Multiple attacks on police stations and assassinations but that's not the focus of the non-Iraqi press.  Check my math but I think that's 35 reported dead and 39 injured (13 of the dead will be noted in a second.)


    There was to have been a protest tomorrow.  Nasiriyah Network News reported earlier today that Dhi Qar journalists planned to protest the French Consulate over the lawsuits against two reporters in the province.  The invitation to the protest noted that Iraqi journalists must protest all efforts to curtail freedom of the press in Iraq and that failure to do so could lead to not just corruption but also dictatorship.  In an update, the outlet notes that the two French companies who were suiing the two journalists have dropped their lawsuits and the protest has been called off.  All Iraq News notes cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr met in Baghdad with the French Ambassador to Iraq Denys Gauer today and the two discussed a number of issues including parliamentary elections in Iraq.




    Moqatada is a Shi'ite cleric so staying with religion, let's note Patriarch Krill I of Moscow, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.  The Voice of Russia (link is text and audio) reports he met with Iraq's Ambassador to Russia Ismieal Shafiq Muhsin today and quotes him stating, "We know that Christian communities have been subjected to violence.  Very many people were killed just for being Christians.  Many people have left Iraq under the threat of death.  That, of course, changed the cultural landscape of your country.  We believe it is in a way a catastrophe for civilization because Christians and Muslims have always lived in peace on the territory of your country." Last week, Prashant Rao (AFP) reported on Iraqi Christians noting:

    Before 2003 more than a million Christians lived in Iraq. Now there are around 400,000, according to Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako, head of one of the world's oldest Christian communities.
    Baghdad has seen a dramatic fall in its own Christian population, which at one point numbered 600,000.
    According to Archdeacon Temathius Esha, an Assyrian priest in Dura, the neighbourhood's Christian population has all but disappeared, from around 150,000 shortly after the 2003 US-led invasion to about 2,000 now.
    Though home to seven churches -- Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac -- Dura now has only two priests.
    Esha's 500-capacity St. Shmooni Church attracted just 20 people for a recent Friday service, and he said only about 150 show up for Christmas or Easter.

    The priest's own family lives in the town of Ainkawa in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, which has been mostly spared from the violence plaguing the rest of the country.


    Religious minorities throughout Iraq are targeted -- including Yazidis, Mandaeans, Caldo-Assyrians, Shabaks and others.  One group that has been repeatedly targeted is the Iraqi Jewish community.


    In 2012, on World Refugee Day, Ron Posner, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, wrote of the climate in the Middle East immediately after WWII and observed of Iraq, "In Iraq Jewish businessman Shafiq Adas, then the country's wealthiest citizen, was immediately arrested on trumped-up charges and publicly lynched. This was followed by bombings targeting Jewish institutions, arbitrary arrests of Jewish leaders, and massive government seizures of property. Within years virtually all of Iraq's 2,500-year-old Jewish community had fled, emptying the country of many of its greatest artists, musicians, and businessmen." Last week the United Nations held a conference in New York entitled The Untold Story of the Middle East:  Justice for Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries.  Jacob Kamaras (Jewish News Service) reports:


    The story of Jews expelled from Iraq has recently drawn significant attention due to the current exhibition in Washington, DC of 24 artifacts from the “Iraqi Jewish Archive,” a collection of 2,700 Jewish books and documents recovered in 2003 in the basement of the Iraqi intelligence ministry and restored by the National Archives and Records Administration. The U.S. has said it plans to return the archive to the Iraqi government following the exhibition, in line with a written agreement between the two countries, but Iraqi Jews say Saddam Hussein’s government confiscated the materials from them.
    Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, at the U.N. conference reiterated a recent statement issued by 42 groups, addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry, that the archive should be protected and remain continually accessible to Jews.
    “We urge our government not to send them back to an uncertain fate in Iraq, where hundreds of holy Torah scrolls remain in disuse and decay,” Hoenlein said.
    Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Ron Prosor told JNS.org regarding the Iraqi archive, “There were a lot of resources and assets put together in order to compile it the way it is; it was saved, and we don’t want it to be lost again.” Robert Singer, CEO of the World Jewish Congress, told JNS.org that the fact that 42 groups signed the statement to Kerry shows “a unified position of the Jewish community on this issue.”



    Ruth covered the issue yesterday and noted Rory Cohen's O.C. Register column:


    Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and one of the initial members of the Muslim Brotherhood, became a Nazi agent after meeting Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Holocaust, in 1937. With Nazi funds, al-Husseini organized the Arab Revolt of 1936-39. In 1941, the mufti orchestrated a short-lived, Nazi-backed generals' coup in Iraq. The coup was followed by the Farhud, a vicious pogrom.
    It's an event that is indelibly imprinted in the consciousness of Iraq's Jews.
    The Mufti obtained Hitler's assurance in November 1941 that, after dealing with the Jews of Europe, Hitler would treat the Jews of the Middle East similarly. In a two-day period, mobs rampaged in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. At least 150 Jews were killed and more than 2,000 injured; some 900 Jewish homes were destroyed and looted; and hundreds of Jewish-owned shops were robbed and destroyed.
    My older family members recall witnessing how soldiers pulled small children away from their parents and ripped the arms off young girls to steal their bracelets; pregnant women were raped and their stomachs cut open. My grandfather rescued his little brother when the violence began. My great-grandfather claimed to be a Muslim when Iraqi troops stormed their home. That was how he saved himself and his daughters, including my grandmother. Many of his neighbors weren't so lucky.


    Turning to veterans issues,  Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee and serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Her office issued the following:





    FOR PLANNING PURPOSES                        CONTACT: Murray Press Office
    Wednesday, November 27th, 2013                                       (202) 224-2834
    MONDAY EVENTS: Murray to Tour JBLM Sexual Assault Response Center, Keynote Ceremony for Military Grads of Microsoft Training Program
     
    12:30, JBLM: Murray will tour sexual assault response center
     
    2:00, Saint Martin’s University: Murray will keynote graduation ceremony for military graduates of Microsoft IT training program
    (Washington, D.C.) – On Monday, December 2nd, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, will be in Tacoma and Lacey, WA for two events. 


    First, at 12:30 PM PT, Senator Murray will visit the newly opened sexual assault response center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.  The center is a first-for-the-military facility that brings together law enforcement, medical support and victims’ advocates in a single space. 


    Second, at 2:00 PM PT, Senator Murray will be the keynote speaker at a graduation ceremony to honor the first graduating class of military students from Microsoft’s Software & Systems Academy pilot program at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, WA.  The 22 graduates, currently active duty service members from JBLM, will be hired into entry-level roles as software testers at Microsoft or Launch Consulting.  The Microsoft Academy was inspired by Senator Murray’s “VOW to Hire Heroes Act.”


    To RSVP for either event, contact the Murray Press Office (sean_coit@murray.senate.gov) or the JBLM Public Affairs Office (253-967-0152)

     
    Event 1:


     
    WHO:         U.S. Senator Patty Murray
                                    Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, Deputy Commanding General, I Corps
            Col. Charles “Chuck” Hodges, Commander, Joint Base Lewis McChord
            Lt. Col. Robert Stelle, JBLM Sexual Assault Response Team Director


    WHAT:        Senator Murray will tour JBLM’s new, first-for-the-military sexual assault response center, which brings together law enforcement, medical support, and victims’ advocates in a single space.
    WHEN:        Monday, December 2nd, 2013     
            12:30 PM PT
    WHERE:     Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) Resource Center
            Bldg 2027
                         Joint Base Lewis McChord,
                                       Dupont Gate, I-5 Exit 119
                                       Escort required – please RSVP in advance              
    Event 2:


     
    WHO:          U.S. Senator Patty Murray
                                       JBLM-based service members graduating from Microsoft’s Software & Systems Academy
                         Col. Charles Hodges, Jr., Base Commander, JBLM
                         Dr. Roy Heynderickx, President, Saint Martin’s University
                         Officials from Microsoft, Launch Consulting



                                                    
    WHAT:        Murray will be the keynote speaker at a graduation ceremony to honor the first graduating class of military students from Microsoft’s Software & Systems Academy pilot program at Saint Martin’s University
    WHEN:        Monday, December 2nd, 2013     
            2:00 PM PT
    WHERE:     Saint Martin’s University
                         Norman Worthington Conference Center
                         Lacey, WA
                         MAP


     
    ###
    Sean Coit
    Press Secretary
    Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
    202-224-2834




     
     
     
    RSS Feed for Senator Murray's office




















    Sometimes you just are not in the mood to put it nicely

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    Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts"Don't Forget The Turkey" went up Thanksgiving morning.


    dont forget the turkey


    How the year has changed the perceptions of President Barack Obama.  My, my, my.


    At Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox, Jon Gold has posted three important videos of The Real News Network interviewing former Senator Bob Graham (of The Washington Post's Graham family) about 9-11.


    I do not believe Kevin Ryan is related to any media dynasty family.  But many of you will know him from Bonnie Faulkner's radio program Guns and Butter.  He writes at Global Research about Noam Chomsky:


    In response to a question at the University of Florida recently, Noam Chomsky claimedthat there were only “a miniscule number of architects and engineers” who felt that the official account of WTC Building 7 should be treated with skepticism.  Chomsky followed-up by saying, “a tiny number—a couple of them—are perfectly serious.”

    If signing your name and credentials to a public petition on the subject means being serious, then Noam Chomsky’s tiny number begins at 2,100, not counting scientists and other professionals. Why would Chomsky make such an obvious exaggeration when he has been presented with contradictory facts many times?

    I’ve personally had over thirty email exchanges with Chomsky. In those exchanges, he has agreed that it is “conceivable” that explosives might have been used at the WTC. But, he wrote, if that were the case it would have had to be Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden who had made it so.

    Of course, it doesn’t matter how many professionals or intellectuals are willing to to admit it. The facts remain that the U.S. government’s account for the destruction of the WTC on 9/11 is purely false.  There is no science behind the government’s explanation for WTC7 or forthe Twin Towers and everyone, including the government, admits that WTC Building 7 experienced free fall on 9/11. There is no explanation for that other than the use of explosives.


    Poor Mr. Chomsky.  He has worked so hard for the government all these years.  And even now, in his finaly years, he works for the government.

    Sad to have never been to tell the full truth.

    Like poor Howard Zinn.  All that time with the C.I.A.

    You were not supposed to notice that, ever, of course.

    And the F.B.I. files were supposed to trick you.

    The F.B.I. investigate many C.I.A. workers.  As Gloria Steinem herself used to point out, pre-feminims, she found "progressives" (Socialists and Communists) at the C.I.A. and that is why she was able to work with them.

    Many people did. 

    Many people do.

    It has been, for example, pointed out that Amy Goodman's positions on which wars to oppose and which to cheerlead are basically the C.I.A. positions.

    That would certainly explain a great deal such as why Ms. Goodman brings on so many C.I.A. agents and assets as guests -- for example, Juan Cole.

    Juan Cole was for the Iraq War, was against it, was for it . . .

    Throughout, the C.I.A. contractor has always found a home across from Ms. Goodman on her lousy TV show.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    Friday, November 29, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue,  protests continue, corpses continue popping up in the streets of Iraq, ExxonMobil dumps a dingo dog with flease, AFP and Al Jazeera cover for Nouri and his security forces, and more.








  • It's Friday, protests have been taking place in Iraq since December 21st.  Iraqi Spring MC notes protests took place in Falluja (above),  Samarra, Jalawla, Tikrit, Baquba, among others.


    Earlier this week, NINA reported, "Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that there will be a response to all legitimate demands of people of Anbar province which were been presented by the province delegation and its provincial council during the recent meeting with him." More empty words from Nouri.




    Monday, Nickolav Mladenov, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to Iraq and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, addressed the United Nations Security Council.


    Nickolay Mladenov:  Protests continued in Anbar, Nineveh, Salah al-Din, Kirkuk and Diayala governorates in the form of unified Friday prayers.  Compared to the past reporting period, the protests assumed a lower profile, owning in part to increased attention to the protesters' demands by newly elected local administrations. Indeed, the Anbar Governorate Council elected Sabah Karhout, a member of the Arab Iraqiya party, as its chair, and Ahmed Khalif al-Dulaimi, a member of the Muttahidoun party, as Governor.  In Ninewa, the Governorate Council re-elected Atheel al-Nujaifi, a known supporter of the protestors and brother of the Speake of the Council of Representatives [Osama al-Nujaifi], as Governor.  On 5 October dialogue between the Government and the protestors resumed following a meeting between the Prime Minister [Nouri al-Maliki] and the Governor of Anbar, who was nominated by the demonstrators to represent their interests.  While the meeting was described as positive and fruitful by the Prime Minister's office, no progress has been announced to date in addressing the demonstrators' demands.  


    Nouri's empty words accomplish nothing.  It's 22 days away from one year of protests.  Nouri's refused to address the concerns of the protesters.  Despite repeatedly claiming he would.  (There was a minor for-show release of a limited number of innocents people held behind bars without charges.)

    Speaking to Patrick Cockburn (Independent) this week, cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr shared his thoughts on Nouri and the protests:

    Mr Sadr is particularly critical of the government’s handling of the Sunni minority, which lost power in 2003, implying they had been marginalised and their demands ignored. He thinks that the Iraqi government lost its chance to conciliate Sunni protesters in Iraq who started demonstrating last December, asking for greater civil rights and an end to persecution.
    “My personal opinion is that it is too late now to address these [Sunni] demands when the government, which is seen as a Shia government by the demonstrators, failed to meet their demands,” he said. Asked how ordinary Shia, who make up the great majority of the thousand people a month being killed by al-Qa’ida bombs, should react, Mr Sadr said: “They should understand that they are not being attacked by Sunnis. They are being attacked by extremists, they are being attacked by external powers.”

    It's amazing that, having passed the 11th month mark, the protests have received so very little attention from the western media.

    Via Iraqi Spring MC, here's more of what the western press ignored today.





    "اريد حقي، صرخة مدوية في سماء الحرية"الموحدة في مدينة







  • NINA quotes Anbar's Sheikh Mohammed Fayyad stating, "The citizens participated in the prayers that held in the courtyard northern Ramadi and eastern Fallujah cities , stressing that the goal of this trickle is to send one again a message to the governing in Baghdad that our demonstrations are peaceful and backed by citizens deep conviction."



    Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports 18 corpses, bullets in head, were found dumped in the town of Mishada.  BBC News adds the 18 were abducted from their homes hours prior to being dumped and that the kidnappers "were wearing police uniforms, according to eyewitnesses." AFP offers, "The victims, all male, were taken on early Friday by men wearing military uniforms and driving around six SUVs, which looked like army vehicles. The victims' families were told that they were suspects in an official investigation and were being taken away for questioning, witnessed told AFP."

    AFP and Al Jazeera rush to name al Qaeada.

    It must be nice to be a crook in Iraq, the press always willing to cover for you, always willing to lie.

    They lied in 2006 as well.  Repeatedly.

    This is why the ethnic cleansing lasted two year -- media felt their job was to protect Nouri and his goons, even if Nouri and his goons were the ones doing the killings.

    One of the few to tell the truth was the human rights organization Human Rights Watch.  October 29, 2006 they issued a statement which opened:

    The Iraqi government must move quickly to prosecute all Ministry of Interior personnel responsible for “death squad” killings in Baghdad and elsewhere, Human Rights Watch said today.
    “Evidence suggests that Iraqi security forces are involved in these horrific crimes, and thus far the government has not held them accountable,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division. “The Iraqi government must stop giving protection to security forces responsible for abduction, torture and murder.”
    Every month, hundreds of people are abducted, tortured and killed by what many believe are death squads that include security forces. To terrorize the population, the killers often dump the mutilated corpses in public areas.

    Human Rights Watch welcomed the recent suspension from duties of the 8th Iraqi Police Unit pending an investigation into their complicity in abductions and killings. The US military has claimed that the unit was responsible for the October 1 kidnapping of 26 Sunni food factory workers in southwest Baghdad, 10 of whom were later found dead. The news agency Inter Press Service reported that the unit used Ministry of Interior vehicles and, according to witnesses, some wore black “death squad” uniforms.


    AFP and Al Jazeera cite police for the 'proof' that the culprits are al Qaeda.

    Neither damn outlet notes the reality that the police and the military -- all the security forces Nouri controls -- were active killing Iraqis as part of the ethnic cleansing from 2006 to 2007.  It's the same way they covered up the Ministry of Interior targeting and killing men suspected of being gay only a little while ago.

    Apparently truth telling and 'reporting' don't go hand in hand.

    Today, 18 people are pulled from their homes by people wearing security uniforms and driving security vehicles.

    AFP and Al Jazeera rush to tell you that it's al Qaeda.

    They have no proof.  They'll lie and whore -- because that's what the press does -- and insist that they're just including details to flesh out the 'reporting.'

    Those aren't details, those are accusations.  A detail?  That would be noting the long history Nouri's forces have for conducting 'extra-judicial' killings.

    Borzou Daragahi (Los Angeles Times) reported in October 2006 on the response from Jawad Bolani to accusations that police forces were carrying out "sectarian death squad killings." Daragahi noted:


    Few sectarian gang members who have been arrested were employees of the ministry, Bolani said. Often they worked for a separate Iraqi security force that guards government buildings, or are security guards at other ministries or for politicians. Some arrested have been linked to the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, he said.

    But AFP and Al Jazeera can't be bothered noting any of that.

    Why?

    Because the Ministry of the Interior has a sterling reputation today and is run by . ..

    Oh, wait.  It's reputation is worse today than it was back then.  In addition, it has no minister heading it.  Nouri never nominated anyone to.  Nouri is the one overseeing it.

    So little suck-ass 'reporters'?  They hump Nouri's leg while whimpering and pretending that passes for reporting.

    We know it doesn't.

    We all know it doesn't.

    What it does do is demonstrate how biased AFP and Al Jazeera are, how they suck up to power and turn a blind eye to the suffering.

    But we already knew that, right?  Al Jazeera and AFP didn't say one damn word about today's massive protests.


    They ignore so very much.  The ignore that Nouri al-Maliki is supporting Shi'ite militias.  Tim Arango (New York Times) broke that story at the end of September:


    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.

    Asaib al-Haq have badges and weapons supplied by Nouri.

    A Shi'ite death squad.

    Unnamed police 'sources'?  AFP and Al Jazeera run with it ignoring the fact that such sources are hardly unbiased.  While they include those sources, they ignore many others.  Here's one example.

  • : MP Ahmed al-Alwani accuses Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq of widespread targeting and killing of Sunni Arabs:



  • For the record, a member of Parliament?  Official source.  But not in Nouri's tent.  So  AFP and Al Jazeera feign ignorance.


    They are pretending, right?

    There's no way that two news outlets could be that ignorant, is there?


    Those weren't the only corpses popping up today.  NINA reports 3 female corpses were discovered in Baghdad with signs of torture.  NINA notes 7 corpses were discovered in Tikrit, Iraqi males who were working in Tikrit on the construction of Tikrit Stadium -- all seven were decapitated.  The heads were found elsewhere in the city -- 5 of which has been "filled with explosives."


    And those weren't the only deaths.  NINA reports another mayor has been killed, this time it was Mayor Sa'ad Ali Sheet by a Hamam Aleel sticky bombing.  Also?  A Baghdad livestock market bombing which claimed 1 life and left seven people injured, a Baghdad sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 Ministry of Environment employee, a Mousl rocket attack claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi soldiers,  a Kirkuk bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi military officer and left three soldiers injured, a Sadiya home invasion left 2 people dead, a southwest Baghdad bombing near a football field left 5 people dead and nine more injured, 2 Baghdad home invasions left 6 women and 1 man dead, and, dropping back to late Thursday, "Unidentified gunment killed six people, including an officer, and his wife, after setting an ambush south of Tirkit last night"



    Staying with violence, Monday, Iraq's Journalistic Freedoms Observatory has issued a release on Alaa Idwar (pictured below).


    alaa idwar

    The JFO noted that they hold military and security forces responsible for not providing security -- not providing security as journalists have faced increasing threats and violence in Mosul for the last two months.  They explained that armed forces -- who do not provide their identities -- have also prevented journalists from doing their jobs, interfering with the reporters efforts to report what is taking place.  They called for the federal government to conduct an investigation and to do so quickly.

    Of  Alaa Idhar's murder, they noted his death follows the murder of other journalists in Mosul.  He was shot three times -- once in the head, once in the stomach and once in the chest.  He wasn't far from his home when the attack took place. Alaa was 41-years-old and had begun his TV journalism career in 1999.  In later years, he added photography and frequently free lanced including for Al Jazeera.   The JFO noted that security forces found a "liquidation list" containing forty-four names, all of them journalists.

    Today Human Rights Watch issued a staement which included:


    Four journalists have been assassinated in Mosul, the capital of Iraq’s Ninewa Province, since early October 2013. Iraqisecurity officials have said they were investigating the killings, the most recent on November 24, but have not arrested or charged anyone in connection with the attacks.

    At the same time, Iraqi prosecutors have stepped up criminal prosecutions of journalists for defamation and have increased other harassment of journalists. Three journalists told Human Rights Watch in November that security forces arrested them and confiscated their equipment after they covered politically sensitive topics, such as poor security, corruption, and the government’s inadequate response to the needs of people affected by flooding. Another journalist told Human Rights Watch that police arrested him on charges of defamation, a crime in Iraq’s penal code, for an article accusing officials of corruption.

    “Journalists in Iraq face a double threat, from armed gangs gunning them down and prosecutors charging them, all because of what they write,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The recent spate of assassinations of journalists has had a chilling effect on journalists, who risk being prosecuted by the very authorities that are supposed to protect them.”

    Assassinations of Journalists
    The killings in Mosul have made October and November the deadliest two-month period this year for journalists. Iraqi authorities have released no information about the results of any pending investigations into the killings, nor announced any arrests. The killings follow years of targeted violence against journalists in Iraq. Since the start of protests in Iraq in February 2011 over widespread corruption and lack of services, journalists have faced escalating attacks and threats, including from members of the government’s security forces. According to the Baghdad-based Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, 48 journalists in Mosul have been killed in violence since 2003.

    In the latest killing, on November 24 unidentified assailants using automatic weapons shot and killed Alaa Edward Butros, a Christian journalist for al-Rashid television news service, as he sat in a coffee shop in the al-Majmua al-Thaqafeyya area north of Mosul. Gunmen shot and killed three other journalists in Mosul in October. Gunmen also killed two spokespersons for the Ninewa governor, Atheel Nujaifi, one in July and the other in October. Both had previously worked as journalists.

    The al-Mada Press news agency, citing a source in the Ninewa police department, reported that security forces had “opened an investigation to find out more details about the assassination and who did it.” So far neither security forces nor the media have provided a reason for the killing. Christians in Mosul are frequently the target of attacks by armed insurgent groups like al-Qaeda.

    Ninewa security forces made similar statements after the assassinations of the three other journalists in October, based on Mosul residents’ accounts to Human Rights Watch and local news reports. On October 5, gunmen shot Mohammed Karim al-Badrani, a television reporter working with al-Sharqiyya news service, and his cameraman, Mohammed al-Ghanem, in Mosul’s central al-Sarjakhaneh market when they were reporting on the neighborhood’s preparations for an upcoming religious holiday.

    On October 24, gunmen using a silencer shot Bashar Abdulqader Najm al-Nouaymi, a cameraman working with al-Mosuliya news agency, in Mosul’s Nabi Shayth neighborhood.

    On October 8, gunmen killed Saad Zaghloul, a spokesman for the Ninewa governor, in front of his home in Mosul’s al-Qadissiya neighborhood. In July, gunmen killed Nujaifi’s spokesman at the time, Qahtan Sami, then laid his corpse on the street while army officers looked on, accordingto a local news report.

    Nujaifi told local media that local security forces know the names of members of “a group that specializes in assassinations,” but that he believes the forces have deliberately not taken any action to investigate or prevent the assassinations. A local journalist told Human Rights Watch that according to information a government source provided him, security forces have a list of 44 journalists that armed groups in the area have targeted for assassinations.





    From the flowing of blood to the flowing of oil . . .





  • As long expected, ExxonMobil unloaded a dingo dog with fleas yesterday.  Global Times reported, "American energy company Exxon Mobil sold part of its controversial stake Thursday in a massive Iraqi oilfield to PetroChina and Indonesia's Pertamina amid a long-running row with Iraq's central government.  The sale of the stake in the West Qurna-1 field in south Iraq, one of the country's largest, marks a key step toward resolving the dispute with the central government over Exxon's contracts with the autonomous Kurdish region." When ExxonMobil signed a deal with the KRG, Nouri and his flunkies stamped their feet in public, then Nouri said that the US government had said they'd stop the deal, then spokesperson for the US State Dept Victoria Nuland had to note the obvious:  the US government cannot force an oil company to do anything.  Iraq has a history of state-owned oil companies.  That's not the western model -- or the model the US government has repeatedly attempted to impose on Iraq since invading in 2003. Nouri didn't grasp that reality.

    Once he did, he began insisting that ExxonMobil couldn't have the KRG deal and the West Qurna deal.

    Nouri's an idiot.  The West Qurna field is seen as a dingo dog with flease.

    It was part of an embarrassing auction that Nouri's flunkies held and then re-held when the first one did so poorly.

    Multi-national oil corporations aren't thrilled with the deals themselves that Baghdad's offering nor are they impressed with the so-so quality of the fields being offered.

    By contrast, they feel the KRG provides better deals and has richer fields.


    The illegal war has brought nothing but misery to Iraq.  And yet US outlets don't feel compelled to cover what's taking place.  They certainly don't feel remorse over selling the illegal war.   Ali Mamouri (Al-Monitor) reports:

    Iraqi Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari announced Oct. 23 that he had prepared a Sharia-based personal-status law and submitted it to the cabinet for approval and referral to the Council of Representatives for passage. Should the law be approved, Iraqi municipalities would be required to apply penalties that violate human rights, such as mutilation and stoning, among others.

    [. . .]
    Civil society movements have launched an extensive campaign in Iraq against the draft law for widely violating human rights, especially those of women and children. Mustafa Kazimi, an Iraqi human rights and democratic activist, wrote on his Facebook page, “This arbitrary and unjust law’s clear violations against the disadvantaged in situations such as granting legal license for parents to marry off girls who are under nine years old and boys who are under 15 years old is an offense against children and an exploitation of childhood. This draft law also considers that a husband provides nafaqah [housing, food and clothing] in return for the sexual pleasure provided to him by his wife. This is an obvious insult to women and a waste of dignity.”
    Attempts to impose Sharia in Iraq will likely lead to deeper sectarian divisions in the society, as religious views differ from one sect to another. Accordingly, there have been calls in some Sunni quarters to separate themselves from the Shiites and establish a Sunni state in their areas, in part because, they allege, the Shiites are moving toward the declaration of a Shiite state.





    In the week where a teacher slapped a young girl for not wearing a veil at a public school, Abbas Sarhan (Niqash) reports some good news for Iraqi women:



    Only a few years ago a woman driving on the streets of Karbala was an unusual sight, one that some considered indecent and odd. But this has changed a lot, with more women driving and more locals considering it acceptable. And despite the city’s conservative ways, local authorities are now sending their female staff to driver education courses.
    Local woman Ruqaya is proud that she was one of the first females, if not the first, to drive a car in the conservative Iraqi city of Karbala. She’s a school teacher and she was taking taxis to work every day. “This was costing almost one quarter of my salary,” she explained to NIQASH. “So I decided to buy a car. It was an old Daewoo and I bought it for US$3,000. In 2009, I sold it and bought a sportier model, a Kia.”
    That was in 2005. “It was strange to see a woman driving a car here,” she continues. “People often looked surprised or outraged when they saw it. And there were men who would make fun of female drivers and who made jokes about them.”
    Once when her car broke down, Ruqaya had to leave it next to a petrol station and she was jeered at by those who saw her predicament as she left the car.
    Karbala didn’t have any actual laws forbidding women from driving and, unlike in some Gulf States, there has never been a fatwa, or religious edict, issued that forbids women from driving. But in Karbala, which is a seat of religious learning and also the home to some of the most important sites in Shiite Islam, it was expected that citizens would abide by the “rules of decency” and avoid any “forbidden acts”. For many, this meant that women should not be behind the wheel of a car.
    However this has changed. “On the whole I think the people of Karbala are civilized in the way they deal with women drivers,” Ruqaya tells NIQASH. “And today there are dozens of women driving in the city. Some of them even drive to other provinces.”


    Monday, UNAMI issued the following:

    Baghdad, 25 November 2013 – On International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) today, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Nickolay Mladenov, used the opportunity to appeal to Iraqi leaders to “take concrete steps to enact and enforce laws which prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV), including holding perpetrators accountable, and to create a framework for better outcomes for women and communities.” 

    Acknowledging that a National Strategy on Combating Violence against Women for 2013-2017 had been endorsed in March 2013 by the Council of Ministers, the UN Envoy deplored that “violence still intersects with nearly every facet of women’s lives, including at home, at school, in the workplace and in society,” and called for a fundamental change in mindsets that have been allowing violence to continue. 
    “Violence against women is a human rights violation.  The scale and true nature of it is often hidden,” said Ms. Frances Guy, Representative of UN Women for Iraq. She highlighted the need for continuing action to eliminate violence against women, and for creating the appropriate framework that will enable women to enjoy physical safety as well as economic security. “It is crucial that all Iraqis support this important goal,” she stressed.
    Every year, 25 November and the ensuing 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence which follow – ending on 10 December, Human Rights Day – are commemorated around the world, providing individuals and groups a chance to mobilize and call attention to the urgent need to end violence against women and girls.



















     

    Barbara Walters

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     Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts"Barack Talks To Barbara" went up Sunday.


    barack talks to barbara walters


    What is most interesting about the comic and the spoof of Barbara Walters is that it was not planned that way originally.

    Isaiah and everyone were talking about the Barbara Walters interview (aired Friday night) with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

    It was noted that Ms. Obama made some very strange faces during the interview.  Isaiah was attempting to think of the comic strip character she reminded him of when C.I. said, "The granny from Lil' Abner?"

    Mammy Yocum.  That was it.

    So he set out to put her in the comic.

    And once he had drawn her, he realized, "She's Barbara Walters."

    Ms. Walters has been on TV forever and is supposedly retiring this year.

    We shall see.

    But that made the comic work.

    And it was all an accident.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:


    Monday, December 2, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, the totals for November's violent deaths vary, Ahmed Chalibi shares thoughts on Nouri, Moqtada al-Sadr notes Iran's position on Nouri, protesters want someone who speaks for them, and much more.


    Let's start with violence.  Last night, Kim Gamel and Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reported, "U.N. envoy to Iraq Nickolay Mladenov singled out an increase in the number of bodies found, including some that were beheaded, and urged the Iraqi government to move quickly to find the attackers and hold them responsible." Mladenov is new to the job and he goes on to show off some stupidity that will hopefully burn off after he's got six months under his belt.  His stupidity?  Fretting over 'execution-style killings.'

    Who gives a ___?

    Seriously.  The foreign media likes it because it's 'sexy.'

    But it doesn't mean a damn thing.

    What he should be especially offended by is when children are the targets of violence.

    Which happened today.

    National Iraqi News Agency reports the corpse of an 11-year-old boy was discovered today in Kut, three days after the boy had been kidnapped.

    And the UN's special rep in Iraq is worried whether bullets went through the chest or the back of the head?

    Someone seriously needs to grow up.

    Cosmetics are not the issue.

    Yesterday,  the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq issued the following:

    Baghdad, 1 December 2013 – According to casualty figures released today by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), in November a total of 659 Iraqis were killed and another 1,373 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence. 

    Some 565 civilians (including 120 civilian police) were killed last month, while some 1,186 persons (including 239 civilian police) were injured. A further 94 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed and 187 were injured. 
    “While indiscriminate bombings and other attacks continue to take a terrible toll on Iraqis every day, I am profoundly disturbed by the recent surge in execution-style killings that have been carried out in a particularly horrendous and unspeakable manner,” said the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Nickolay Mladenov. “As a matter of urgency, the Iraqi authorities should take immediate steps to find and hold accountable the perpetrators of these crimes and to implement effective measures to ensure the protection of all citizens,” he added.
    Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 623 civilian casualties (224 killed, 399 injured), followed by Nineva (107 killed, 224 injured), Salahuddin (88 killed, 230 injured), and Diyala (82 killed, 151 injured). 
    Anbar, Kirkuk, Babil, and Wasit, also reported casualties (double digit figures). 
     The entire figure of civilians killed between January and November 2013 is 7,157 in addition to 952 Iraqi Security Forces.



    Yesterday AFP's Prashant Rao Tweeted AFP's count of 692 deaths:


  • In November, at least 692 people killed, 1,339 people wounded by Iraq unrest - tally:




  • Iraq Body Count has been keeping a count throughout the war.  They know what they're doing.  And their count for November?  903 violent deaths.


    That's at least 721 deaths.   At least?

    We're not counting this one:





  • AKE documented 129 fatalities and 368 injured in violence last week.
  • At least 144 people were killed and 360 injured in violence last week according to our figures.
  • At least 188 people were killed and 433 injured in violence last week.




  • I counted almost 260 dead and almost 400 injured in violence last week.



  • That's at least 721 violent deaths.

    At least?

    We're not counting the numbers in this Tweet:


  • At least 136 people were killed and 317 injured in violence last week according to AKE figures.


  • 5 of the days are October, only two are November.

    IBC has 25 deaths for the first two days of November which would bring the AKE total to 746 violent deaths (but minus one for 745, see below).

    AKE's John Drake (at Global IntAKE) notes another feature of the violence, "According to AKE figures last week was one of Iraq‘s most violent since 2007. At least 259 people were killed and 399 injured in nationwide incidents.  In 2012 the average weekly number of fatalities was 60. Last week’s total number of deaths was over four times this."

    NINA also reports 2 Baquba bombings left seven people injured, a Mosul bombing claimed the lives of 2 police officers and left six more injured, an armed attack in al-Qaiim left 1 Iraqi soldier dead and two more injured, Aadil Mohsen (adviser to Nineveh Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi) was assassinated in Mosul, a Mosul sticky bombing killed 1 person, a Tikrit roadside bombing left one police officer injured, a Tikrit attack left  1 police officer dead and three more injured, 2 Sulaymaniyah sticky bombings left to Asaish officers injured, and men in "military uniforms, abducted Mukhtar of Seetah village Mahalabiyah county west of Mosul."





    Sunday,  World Bulletin observed, "Turkey's courtship of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region has infuriated the central government Baghdad, which says it has sole authority to manage Iraqi energy resources." This was the day after he stamped his feet on the world stage while crying.  World Bulletin noted, "After it was revealed that a deal was signed between Turkey and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government of northern Iraq, it was reported that the central Iraqi government in Baghdad closed air space to private Turkish jets in protest of the deal." AFP added, "Baghdad has barred Turkish private jets from flying to Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, officials said Nov. 30, ahead of an upcoming energy conference that Ankara's energy minister was expected to attend." World Bulletin also notes the denial, "Director of the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority Naser al-Bandar has denied reports about closing the airspace of northern Iraq to Turkish planes." But Nouri's pouting was such that it didn't matter whether it was closed or only thought closed, to the world was just another tantrum from the spoiled brat Nouri.  Today,  Humerya Pamuk (Reuters) reports, "Turkey said Monday it stood by a bilateral oil deal with Iraqi Kurdistan that bypassed central government but sought to appease Baghdad by drawing it into the arrangement."


    Also over the weekend,  All Iraq News reported cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr declared today that Iran refuses to back Nouri for a third term.  Today Ahmed Chalabi offered harsh words for Nouri al-Maliki.  NINA quotes him denouncing a third term for Nouri, stating it "will lead to a further deterioration in security and corruption as well as continuing foreign interference." He further stated, "The policy of the country is moving towards authoritarianism and dictatorship and our future role is to put Iraq on the path of real democracy through a comprehensive process of change, not only at the political level, but in all areas."

    Let's stay with political news out of Iraq.  All Iraq News reports today that arrest warrants have been issued against two members of Moqtada al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc -- MP Jawad al-Shihaili and Baha al-Araji.  al-Araji is charged with "damaging general properties" and al-Shihaili is charged with "stealing state's revenues." These warrants come only after Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports MPs are accusing Nouri al-Maliki of misuse of state resources on his recent trip to Basra -- including, Moqtada's bloc pointed out, Nouri offering up land plots.  MPs see the visit as typical Nouri trying to bribe for votes but the difference this time is that a law's been passed to make this illegal.


    Nouri refuses to follow the laws which is one of the reasons protests have been taking place in Iraq since December 21st.  They've continued to protest despite multiple attacks on them by Nouri al-Maliki's forces, the worst being the April 23rd massacre of a sit-in in Hawija which resulted from  Nouri's federal forces storming in.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.   AFP reported the death toll eventually (as some wounded died) rose to 53 dead.   UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).  They haven't given up despite Nouri's empty words.  Monday, Nickolav Mladenov, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to Iraq and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, addressed the United Nations Security Council.


    Nickolay Mladenov:  Protests continued in Anbar, Nineveh, Salah al-Din, Kirkuk and Diayala governorates in the form of unified Friday prayers.  Compared to the past reporting period, the protests assumed a lower profile, owning in part to increased attention to the protesters' demands by newly elected local administrations. Indeed, the Anbar Governorate Council elected Sabah Karhout, a member of the Arab Iraqiya party, as its chair, and Ahmed Khalif al-Dulaimi, a member of the Muttahidoun party, as Governor.  In Ninewa, the Governorate Council re-elected Atheel al-Nujaifi, a known supporter of the protestors and brother of the Speake of the Council of Representatives [Osama al-Nujaifi], as Governor.  On 5 October dialogue between the Government and the protestors resumed following a meeting between the Prime Minister [Nouri al-Maliki] and the Governor of Anbar, who was nominated by the demonstrators to represent their interests.  While the meeting was described as positive and fruitful by the Prime Minister's office, no progress has been announced to date in addressing the demonstrators' demands.  


    This month, the protests hit the one year mark.  19 days from now, in fact.  The protesters have been attacked, arrested and murdered.  And still they protest.  Speaking to Patrick Cockburn (Independent) last week, cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr shared his thoughts on Nouri and the protests:


    Mr Sadr is particularly critical of the government’s handling of the Sunni minority, which lost power in 2003, implying they had been marginalised and their demands ignored. He thinks that the Iraqi government lost its chance to conciliate Sunni protesters in Iraq who started demonstrating last December, asking for greater civil rights and an end to persecution.
    “My personal opinion is that it is too late now to address these [Sunni] demands when the government, which is seen as a Shia government by the demonstrators, failed to meet their demands,” he said. Asked how ordinary Shia, who make up the great majority of the thousand people a month being killed by al-Qa’ida bombs, should react, Mr Sadr said: “They should understand that they are not being attacked by Sunnis. They are being attacked by extremists, they are being attacked by external powers.”





    December 21st, the protests will have hit the one year mark -- that's twenty days away.  Today, All Iraq News reports:
    The Coordination Committees of the Sit –In yards in Ramadi city announced on Monday withdrawing their authorization for the Governor of Anbar to negotiate with the Central Government over the demands of the demonstrators.
    The demonstrators and chieftains in Anbar announced on September 3rd authorizing the Governor of Anbar Ahmed Khalaf to negotiate with the CG to implement their demands. 

    They're not pleased with the talks Governor Ahmed Khalaf has had with Nouri -- which have produced no results.  But they're especially bothered by the fact that the Governor is not working for them.  Some feel he's working for the United States' government.

    Where did they get that idea?  Who knows.  But Sunday, these remarks from Brett McGurk were posted repeatedly on Arabic social media:

    In the Sunni majority provinces of Ninewa and Anbar, provincial elections had been delayed due to security concerns. We were clear from the outset that this decision was unwise, and pushed to ensure the elections took place, which they did on June 20. The outcome led to a status quo in Ninewa, with the brother of Speaker Osama Nujaifi retaining the governorship; but new leaders emerged in  Anbar, and these new leaders, with our encouragement, are engaging the central government. 
    Prime Minister Maliki met the new Anbar Governor, Ahmad Khalaf al-Dulaimi, before traveling to Washington, and we expect to see additional meetings soon, with a focus on coordinating security and political efforts. 


    McGurk is the US State Dept's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and, last month, he testified to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.  We covered his testimony in the November 13th "Iraq snapshot," the November 14th "Iraq snapshot" and in the November 15th  "Iraq snapshot." And the statements that were so popular on social media yesterday are from his opening statement which you can read in full here.



    Lukman Faily is the Iraqi Ambassador to the US.  Today, he Tweeted:


    1. An Iraq tradition, like football,that cuts across ethnoreligious identities.It reflects hospitality, social cohesion


    2. A key cultural aspect of Muharram festivities is cooking of rice and qaema on the streets.



    What is Muharram?  Islamic Finder explains:

    Allah's sacred month of Muharram is a blessed and important month. It is the first month of the Hijri calendar and is one of the four sacred months concerning which Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

    "Verily, the number of months with Allah is twelve months (in a year), so it was ordained by Allah on the Day when He created the heavens and the earth; of them, four are sacred. That is the right religion, so wrong not yourselves therein."[al-Tawbah 9:36]
    Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "The year is twelve months of which four are sacred, the three consecutive months of Dhu'l-Qa'dah, Dhu'l-Hijjah and Muharram, and Rajab Mudar which comes between Jumaada and Sha'baan."(Reported by al-Bukhari, 2958).
    Muharram is so called because it is a sacred (Muharram) month and to confirm its sanctity.

    Allah’s words (interpretation of the meaning): "so wrong not yourselves therein." mean do not wrong yourselves in these sacred months, because sin in these months is worse than in other months. 


    It began on the evening of November 3rd and tomorrow, 30 days later, it ends in the evening.



    Shmuley Boteach (Jerusalem Post) has an important column which opens:


    I saw something amazing today. The National Archives of the United States, which houses the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, hosted an exhibition of more than 2,700 Iraqi Jewish artifacts – including Torah parchments and ancient prayer books – from a Baghdad synagogue that was looted at gunpoint by Saddam Hussein in 1984. The treasures were discovered in 2003 by US troops in the basement of the Baghdad Intelligence Agency.
    The saving of the treasure was orchestrated by former Pentagon analyst and orthodox Jew Harold Rhode, whose name is on the metal boxes that were shipped from Baghdad but who is curiously not mentioned once in the exhibit. I’m told it’s the first time the National Archives has hosted a collection that is not native to the United States.
    The US spent approximately $3 million to restore the badly damaged documents and did a spectacular job. But there’s a catch. Our government made a commitment to the government of Iraq that it would return the collection once it was restored. America’s Iraqi Jewish community is now asserting ownership.
    Let’s be clear. This is not something that belongs to the Iraqi government. It was looted by Saddam Hussein and should be returned to its rightful owner, the Jewish community of Iraq, who now find themselves mostly in Israel (between 250,000- 400,000) and the United States. That the US is even considering returning the collection is incredible. Our government contends that it made a commitment to the Iraqis before they took the documents to restore them.
    But you can’t make any commitments about property that doesn’t belong to you, so the US is not bound by its commitment.


    Thank you.  We have pointed out repeatedly that stolen property cannot be the subject of a legal contract that fails to include the owners.  The contract is not valid.  Until this point is made repeatedly so that most people can grasp it, the trove is lost.  It will go back to Iraq.  The only chance it has of staying is for the ownership issue to be raised.  (And, I will repeat, those who see their own records in these archives need to file in a US court to prevent the archives from returning to Iraq.)  David S. Cloud (Los Angeles Times) reports on Harold Rhode's efforts to prevent the stolen property from being shipped to Iraq:

    Rhode has launched a campaign to halt the transfer, joined by a growing number of American Jewish groups and members of Congress, who argue that the materials belong to the Iraqi Jews they were taken from and their descendants, not to Iraq's government.
    For years, intelligence operatives working for Hussein and his predecessors apparently seized papers from synagogues and Jewish families, in periodic crackdowns or before the families would be allowed to emigrate.
    Why the materials, most of which document relatively mundane activities of Iraq's Jewish communities, were kept for decades in the security service headquarters is a mystery. Rhode attributes it partly to Hussein's mania for getting back at Israel.
    "By Saddam taking this material, it was like he was personally humiliating the Jews of the world and Israel," Rhode says. "So now are we going to return it to them?"




    Lastly,  David Bacon's latest book is Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press) which won the CLR James Award.  This is from his "Iraqi Union Leaders In Danger, Call For A New Labor Law" (Equal Times):


    Trade unions in Iraq may gain real legal status for the first time in decades, if a proposed new labor and trade union law is passed by Parliament, and if it truly abolishes the anti-labor restrictions of the eras of Saddam Hussein and the U.S. occupation.  But even as this possibility seems within reach, the situation of trade union leaders in the country's most important economic sector - oil - seems as tenuous as ever.
    " The government wants to destroy our union," said Hassan Juma'a Awad, president of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, in a recent interview.   "They will not allow us to work as a union.  Law 150, passed under Saddam Hussein, is still being enforced, and the Iraqi government uses this law to prohibit the operation of Iraqi unions.  Another law, special to our union, doesn't allow the workers in the general labor department to join. "
    On November 10 a court in Basra dismissed, for the second time, charges against Hassan Juma'a.  But Ibrahim Rhadi and sixteen other union activists are still being prosecuted, and face fines totaling more than $600,000, an impossibly large sum for oil workers to pay.  Rhadi's fine alone is $30,000.  " If Ibrahim doesn't pay, he'll be fired from his job," Juma'a says.  "Then they will put him in jail."





















    Mia Farrow's brother will spend 15 years behind bars

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    October 12th, I wrote about how John Charles Farrow was a pedophile.  Though largely ignored in this country, at the end of October, the Belfast Telegraph reported on his sentencing:

    Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Laura Kiessling sentenced John Villers-Farrow to 25 years in prison with 15 years suspended.
    In July, Villers-Farrow entered an Alford plea, which allows a defendant to maintain his innocence while admitting prosecutors have enough evidence to convict. The 67-year-old businessman, husband and father was indicted after two men accused him of sexually abusing them between 2000 and 2008 when they were children.

    He is the brother of Mia Farrow.  In 2012, she Tweeted:

    2 Philly pedophile priests 'punished'(not prison?) 26 more under investigation.



    If she has Tweeted about her brother being a pedophile, I have missed it.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:


    Tuesday, December 3, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri briefly discovers women (and we explain why), the KRG prime minister addresses the big oil event taking place in Erbil, Nouri preps to rush to Iran, US Senator Patty Murray speaks about one of  "our nation's greatest tasks at hand" and more.



    Sunday,  World Bulletin observed, "Turkey's courtship of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region has infuriated the central government Baghdad, which says it has sole authority to manage Iraqi energy resources." Yes, Nouri spent the continuing to throw tantrums looking like a fool on the world stage in the process.  Iraq's Prime Minister of too many years, Nouri al-Maliki, is an international joke -- and apparently determined to make himself even more of one.

    UPI explains, "The Kurdish government in northern Iraq reached a deal with Turkey to supply oil through a cross-border pipeline. The government said in a statement Tuesday the pipeline would run from the Taq Taq oil field in the Kurdish north to the Turkish port of Ceyhan and be able to export 1 million barrels of oil per day by 2015."  Today, Sevil Erkus (Hurriyet Daily News) reports, "Iraqi Kurdish officials are set to visit Baghdad in the coming days to discuss oil revenue sharing and metering, a move precipitated by Turkey’s urging of the autonomous region to enter into talks with the central government on the issue of hydrocarbon resources." Today also saw Iraq's Minister of Oil Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi make a series of vague statements.  However, as Nayla Razzouk (Bloomberg News) reports, "Even so, Luaibi’s comments shed little light on how the agreement conforms with what may be a separate deal between the KRG and Turkey."


    As if the empty statements weren't embarrassing enough for the Baghdad-based government, the one million barrels a day factoid was noted elsewhere today as well.  Judit Neurink (Rudaw) reports:


    The oil pipeline from Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey is ready to transport 300,000 barrels a day, and as much as a million barrels by 2015. Kurdistan will soon become a net contributor to the national income of Iraq.
    This was the happy message broadcasted by Kurdish officials at the Kurdistan-Iraq Oil & Gas Conference held in the Kurdistan capital of Erbil. Some eight hundred professionals involved in the oil and gas industry attended the third conference in its kind in Iraqi Kurdistan.
    Central in the speeches during the opening session were the fast growth of Kurdistan’s oil industry – from nothing in 2003 to 300.000 barrels a day - and the message this sends to the Iraqi government in Baghdad.


    Yes, while Nouri al-Maliki continued to look inept and ridiculous, an international event was taking place in the Kurdistan Region -- as the Kurdistan Regional Government noted in a press release today which includes:




    Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq - (KRG.org) – Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, speaking at a conference in Erbil today, highlighted Kurdistan Region’s contribution to the global energy market and reiterated Kurdistan’s commitment to the Iraqi constitution in the Region’s dealings with Turkey.
    The Prime Minister referred to the discussions over the past two years between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Turkey on cooperation in oil and gas, which includes oil exports, and said that the framework agreement between Erbil and Ankara adheres to the Iraqi constitution.
    He said, ‘I have insisted at all times of these negotiations on the transparency and accountability of the export process and revenues from the Kurdistan Region. And here I would like to announce that we will invite officials from the federal government and independent third parties to observe all stages of the process.’

      The Prime Minister was speaking at the third Kurdistan Iraq Oil and Gas Conference which has attracted almost 1,000 executives from the energy industry as well as senior diplomats from across the world. Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Rowsch Shaways, the KRG’s Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami and Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz also spoke at the opening of the conference.



    For more on the conference, to note the scope of it, will include this Earthstaff press release issued today:


    Earthstaff, are delighted to be a sponsor at the 2013 Kurdistan-Iraq Oil & Gas Conference at the beginning of December. The conference, now in its third year, is supported by The Kurdistan Regional Government  and will be held at The Saad Palace Convention Centre in Erbil, the capital city of the semi-autonomous region of Iraq.
    The event takes place over four days and will feature 45 speakers, 850 delegates and 41 sponsors, one of which is Earthstaff. We will have our own display stand at the conference giving us the opportunity to network with the attendees, delegates and major Oil and Gas firms like Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Gazprom who will also be at the event. Attendees to the conference will be hearing from H.E Nerchirvan Barzani, Prime Minister of Kurdistan, H.E Dr Ashti Hawrami, Kurdistan Minister of Natural Resources and Ian MacDonald, one of the VP’s at Chevron who will all be speaking at the event.
    Over the past few years, Earthstaff has enjoyed great success supplying professionals to numerous companies operating within Kurdistan. This success has lead to the Earthstaff establishing its own presence within the region by opening an office close the centre of the capital of Erbil in September. The Oil & Gas Conference therefore provides the perfect platform for Earthstaff to showcase its talents and explain to companies how we can assist them get the best out of their operations in Kurdistan as well as allowing us to expand and develop our own operations in the rapidly growing market of the Middle East.

    It must be hard for such an unbalanced paranoid like Nouri to look at the KRG and see one success after another while his own two terms as Prime Minister of Iraq have delivered so little, accomplished near nothing.

    Nouri is a member of the political party Dawa, he is the leader of the State of Law political slate.  An e-mail from a State of Law MP expressed outrage that I didn't note a little even Nouri held yesterday so let's get out of the way right now.

    Yesterday, Alsumaria noted, Nouri gave some of his empty remarks he's so famous for and posed at a meeting with over 16 women -- only one of whom didn't wear a veil or hijab.  Nouri insisted, in front of this group of women who were a delegation from the Council of Iraqi Businesswomen, that women make real contributions and strengthen and advance nations.  Here's a photo from the photo op that was posted to Nouri's official website.


    nouri



    That's beyond stupid, that State of Law and Nouri think that meaningless photo-op amounts to anything is beyond stupid.

    Nouri sitting around a table with women will only remind Iraqi women that Nouri's second Cabinet included no women to start with.  In fact, the Minister of Women?  That was (male) Hoshyar Zebari for months before Nouri found a woman who was willing to stand up in public and insist that women's rights would lead to victimization of women and that a woman should just do what some man told her.

    Let's talk money because money is one of the things that prompted the photo op.

    What brings in big money to Iraq besides oil?

    Right now, outside of the KRG, big money's really only comes in as international aid.

    And most of that money requires basic human rights be observed in Iraq.  A government -- not the US -- explained to Nouri that some of his aid from their western country was in jeopardy due to the way Iraqi women are being systematically stripped of their rights.

    It was thought that he needed to make some sort of a 'statement' in order for Iraq to continue to receive various grants.

    It was also thought that Nouri should speak out against violence.

    That was too much for Nouri even when the government official pointed out that others already had.

    Let's drop back to last week for this from the November 26th snapshot:

    Back in March, Rania Khalek (Muftah) noted it wasn't always women under attack in Iraq:

    Contrary to popular imagination, Iraqi women enjoyed far more freedom under Saddam Hussein’s secular Ba’athist government than women in other Middle Eastern countries. In fact, equal rights for women were enshrined in Iraq’s Constitution in 1970, including the right to vote, run for political office, access education and own property. Today, these rights are all but absent under the U.S.-backed government of Nouri al-Maliki.
    Prior to the devastating economic sanctions of the 1990s, Iraq’s education system was top notch and female literacy rates were the highest in the region, reaching 87 percent in 1985. Education was a major priority for Saddam Hussein’s regime, so much so that in 1982 Iraq received the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) award for eradicating illiteracy. But the education system crumbled from financial decay under the weight of the sanctions pushing over 20 percent of Iraqi children out of school by 2000 and reversing decades of literacy gains. Today, a quarter of Iraqi women are illiterate, more than double the rate for Iraqi men (11 percent). Female illiteracy in rural areas alone is as high as 50 percent.
    Women were integral to Iraq’s economy and held high positions in both the private and public sectors, thanks in large part to labor and employment laws that guaranteed equal pay, six months fully paid maternity leave and protection from sexual harassment. In fact, it can be argued that some of the conditions enjoyed by working women in Iraq before the war rivaled those of working women in the United States.


    BBC News has a photo essay entitled 'In Pictures: Women At Risk In Iraq." Umed Sami (Kirkuk Now) reported Sunday that it is Domestic Violence Awareness Week which actually lasts two weeks and that there are many different actions because there are "20 women's rights organizations in Kirkuk." From the article:


    No to Violence against Women is a women’s rights organization founded by a group of women’s rights activists back in 2010.  It is one of the organizations planning to organize a protest rally on November 25 in front of the governor’s office as they protest against the poor conditions of women’s rights and their struggles.
    In the meantime, the Kurdistan Women’s Union, a women’s organization affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party of Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim, is a member of the political bureau boycotting the activities of No to Violence against Women and who view their rally as an “opposition against the governor and not demanding the women’s rights.”
    Women’s activist Naska Muhammad told Kirkuk Now “The majority of the women’s rights organizations have boycotted the rally as we feel it is more targeted against the governor and it is politically driven.”

    The Kurdistan Regional Government noted the kick off on Monday and that Monday was International Day Against Violence Against Women (that's a United Nations day around the world).  KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani addressed a large group of men and women -- including ministers of government, MPs in the Iraqi Parliament and the Kurdish Parliament, regional official and diplomats --  in Erbil.  Barzani noted that violence against women is violence against human rights and the issue is not a 'women's issue' but one for the entire community to work on.  He called for justice which means changing the laws in the KRG so that the light penalities for husbands killing wives are eliminated (he noted the KRG law currently mirrors the law for the rest of Iraq).  He noted that they need to address the issue of child brides and the practice of female genital mutilation.  He cited figures finding that reported violence against women had fallen in 2012 but he stated that the gains were not enough and the community needed to work harder to address the issue.

    Iraq's Human Rights Ministry also had an event.  Compare the photos.  Even if you can't read Arabic, you'll note many things.  For example, the Baghdad turnout?  Not that impressive in terms of numbers. The KRG photo displays ten packed rows of attendees (and the photo cuts off with the impression that there are rows not displayed in the photo).  In Baghdad, they take up about six rows -- with a lot of empty spaces.  In the KRG, you see shiny, healthy hair on the heads of men and women.  In Baghdad, most women have their hair covered.  (Four brave women on the second row do not cover their hair.) Nouri's Prime Minister of Iraq.  Did he address the gathering?

    Nope. 

    He couldn't be bothered with the topic.  

    Ibithal al-Zaidi was present.  Declaring she (now) believes in equality between the sexes -- based on the law and religions.   Whatever.  

    How important was the event?  

    They don't even bother to finish the press release -- it cuts off before the end of the release.


    Nouri should have been present.  By refusing to show up for the Baghdad event, let alone speak at it, he made clear that violence against women does not qualify as a serious issue to him.

    We're not done with the KRG yet.  Al Mada reports that KRG President Massoud Barzani issued a statement decrying violence against women saying it was inhumane and against the basic principals of humanity.  He noted the sacrifices and actions Iraqi women had taken part in to create a better Iraq and called for rights to live safely and free from oppression, discrimination and violence.


    He is supposedly the leader of Iraq.  The two-week "week of violence against women" is continuing.  Yet the leader of the country has never denounced violence against women.

    He's never called it out.

    And under pressure from a foreign government, the best he could do was assemble a group of women for a photo op in his attempt to ensure that no foreign aid gets cut off.

    The e-mail from the State of Law MP accused me of being part of a conspiracy to destroy Nouri al-Maliki.  I'd argue Nouri's doing such a good job destroying himself that nobody else needs to take part, we just need to step back and enjoy it.

    Al Mada reports women activists gathered Sunday at a cemetery in Sulaymaniyah province to note that 130 graves in the cemetery are of women who were killed in so-called 'honor' killings.  These 130 graves do not even contain the names of the women because 'honor' killings weren't enough apparently, the women had to be disappeared.   Hannah Xuan, one of the organizers, told Al Mada that the women were killed by family and that few people are ever prosecuted for these brutal crimes.


    Yet Nouri stays silent about violence against women.


    Yesterday, his office announced he "will conduct an official visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran at the endo f the week, to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries and the issues of the addition to congratulating the Iranian President Mr. Hassan Rohani on taking office as President of Iran."


    A sudden visit to Iran?

    Over the weekend,  All Iraq News reported cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr declared today that Iran refuses to back Nouri for a third term.   Today, NINA reports that MP Amir Kanani, with Sadr's bloc, states Nouri's sudden visit is an attempt "to get support for a third term" as prime minister.  KUNA notes reactions to Nouri's announced trip (to take place tomorrow):



    Speaking to KUNA, Ali Mosawi, the Prime Minister's media advisor, said Al-Maliki aims to congratulate Iran on its recent deal with the P5+1 group by virtue of which several sanctions on Iran will be terminated.
    "The Prime Minister will also discuss the bilateral relations, notability the navigation in Shatt Al-Arab waterway, and regional issues such as the conflict in Syria," he revealed.
    "It is ridiculous to think that Prime Minister Al-Miliki is after Iran's approval for his bid to a third term in office. The Iraqis are solely the ones who select their prime ministers, presidents and representatives in the parliament through ballot boxes," Mosawi affirmed.
    [. . .]

    On the other hand, Al-Maliki's political rivals affirm that the visit has ulterior purposes relating to the upcoming parliamentary elections.
    [. . ]
    Similarly, Haider Al-Mulla, MP from the Iraqi National Dialogue Front, said the visit will materialize Iran's growing influence on the political scene in Iraq.
    "Al-Maliki seeks to get Iran's blessing to his bid for reelection. How can we rule out the ulterior motives behind the visit at a time when the photos of (Iran's supreme leader Sayyed Ali) Khamenei are raised in streets across Baghdad?" Al-Mulla wondered.



    Today, NINA reports that MP Amir Kanani, with Sadr's bloc, states Nouri's sudden visit is an attempt "to get support for a third term" as prime minister.

    Elections are supposed to take place April 30th.  Not surprising, some Iraqis don't feel elections matter.  That's what happens when Barack Obama pisses on democracy.  The 2010 elections saw Nouri's State of Law come in second place.  He lost.  He refused to step down.

    The White House backed him.

    They brokered a contract (The Erbil Agreement) to go around the votes, the will of the people, the Iraqi Constitution.

    All to give Nouri a second term the Iraqi people didn't want him to have.


    Mustafa al-Kadhimi (Al-Monitor) reports today that few Iraqis have bothered to update their records for voting:


    The low number of voters who showed up to update their records in preparation for the legislative elections in April 2014 is worrisome and raises questions about the will for change. The figures leaked from the Electoral Commission indicate that fewer than 500,000 people updated their records days before the expiration of the statutory period.
    Even though leaders such as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr called on voters to update their records, this failed to raise the participation rates to numbers significant enough to make an impact.
    This raises concerns of political leaders such as Ethel Nujaifi, the governor of Mosul, who said that only 4% of Mosul’s Arabs showed up to update their records.




    That's because of US President Barack Obama who, in 2010, pissed on democracy and pissed on Iraqis.


    The winner of the 2010 parliamentary elections was Iraqiya meaning the head of that coalition, Ayad Allawi, should have become prime minister.  NINA reports:


    In a statement to the press on Sunday, Dec. 1, Allawi said that continued attacks and assassination of the countries figures and personalities make us worry for the future of Iraq from a plan drawn to instigate fear and sectarian commotion aims to fragment the nation and turn it into quarreling cults.
    He added that by continue losing such personalities, reflects the state of destabilization our homeland is in.
    Allawi accused the Government of being responsible for the assassination of tribal chief, dignitaries and innocent citizens; especially that it proved its inability to protect citizens. He demanded Parliament to question security commanders about such security breaches and assassination of tribal chiefs and dignitaries.



    Aswat al-Iraq adds:


    Mutahidoun Alliance MP Khalid al-Alwani called the security forces to "protect the citizens from the terrorist militias", pointing that the "massacres" committed daily against the Sunni sect in Baghdad and other provinces is the product of "inaccurate security plans". In a press statement, he added that the areas around the capital are living in "panic" due to the return of the militias and their killing activities with the knowledge of the central government.


    The violence continues.  NINA notes a southwest Baghdad car bombing left 2 people dead and nine more injured, an Abu Ghraib market bombing left 2 people dead and eight injured, a Baghdad bombing (west Baghdad, Amiriya district) left five people injured, a bombing on the University of Mosul campus (targeting university president Abe al-Dowachi) left one campus employee injured, an Okashat roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 person and left another injured, a Falluja bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left two more injured, 1 "police intelligence agent" was shot dead in Mosul, 2 suicide bombers in Tarmiya apparently attempted to target the mayor who was unharmed but the 2 did kill 7 people and left fifteen more injured, 1 police officer was shot dead in Mosul, and a Baladruz suicide car bombing claimed the lives of 2 police officers and left four more injured. All Iraq News adds that 4 suicide bombers stormed Tikrit's social welfare building resulting in 22 deaths and thirty people being injured.  Alsumaria notes that 1 college of Dentistry student at the University of Mosul was shot dead today and that, late yesterday, the corpse of Qahtan Mahdawi was found dumped outside Baquba (he had been a teacher).


    From yesterday's snapshot:

    Let's stay with political news out of Iraq.  All Iraq News reports today that arrest warrants have been issued against two members of Moqtada al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc -- MP Jawad al-Shihaili and Baha al-Araji.  al-Araji is charged with "damaging general properties" and al-Shihaili is charged with "stealing state's revenues." These warrants come only after Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports MPs are accusing Nouri al-Maliki of misuse of state resources on his recent trip to Basra -- including, Moqtada's bloc pointed out, Nouri offering up land plots.  MPs see the visit as typical Nouri trying to bribe for votes but the difference this time is that a law's been passed to make this illegal.


    Today, NINA reports:


    A member of the Parliamentary Committee on Integrity, MP for the Ahrar bloc Jawad al-Shayli accused the Dawa Party behind the arrest warrant issued against him.
    He said, at a news conference in the House of Representatives today that the judiciary issued an arrest warrant against him and MP Jawad Hasnawi and a memorandum of bringing against the head’sbloc Bahaa al-Araji , accusing the Dawa Party of being behind it , with the aim of political targeting, comparing the work of the Dawa Party, now with Baath Party.
    He added : "The warrant relating to charges in accordance with Article 316 of embezzlement of state funds , which means the money of the medical treatment, which he took from the House of Representatives ."
    He said : "The MP, of the State of law, Khalid al-Attiyah took four times this expense ," wondering : "Why did not issue an arrest warrant against Al-Attiyah, and many MPs of state of law ," adding : "The aim of these warrants is political targeting ."


    Moving over to the US, Senator Patty Murray serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and is the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee.  Her office issued the following yesterday:




    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                CONTACT: Murray Press Office
    Monday, December 2nd, 2013                                                 (202) 224-2834
    JBLM: Murray Keynotes Ceremony for Military Grads of Microsoft Training Program
      
    First graduating class of military graduates of Microsoft IT training program inspired by Murray’s ‘VOW to Hire Heroes Act’


    (Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, delivered the keynote speech at a graduation ceremony to honor the first graduating class of military students from Microsoft’s Software & Systems Academy pilot program at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, WA.  The 22 graduates, currently active duty service members from JBLM, will be hired into entry-level roles as software testers at Microsoft or Launch Consulting.  The Microsoft Academy was inspired by Senator Murray’s “VOW to Hire Heroes Act.”


    Key excerpts from Senator Murray’s speech:
     


    “As we stand here today unemployment among recent veterans is way down - on par with the rest of the country, post-9/11 veterans are being hired at a faster rate than non-veterans, and at JBLM, where 45% of service members once participated in transition assistance programs - 90% of the men and women transitioning to civilian life are getting the help they deserve.”

    “Now, these programs have been a huge success - but they’re only part of the puzzle. Because no matter how much we do to prepare our veterans for the workplace - we can’t succeed in fully transitioning them to civilian life without strong, lasting partnerships with businesses, labor organizations,  colleges, and universities.
     


    “And that’s why this program and this ceremony today are so special - because right here, we have top-ranking military leaders from JBLM, executives from Microsoft - one of our nation’s most successful businesses, and educators from Saint Martin’s University all working together to create a seamless, successful transition for men and women who’ve worn the uniform. I can tell you - when I wrote the VOW Act, this is exactly what I hoped and envisioned for all our nation’s veterans...and let’s also give credit where it’s due: because the transition program at JBLM is setting the standard for military bases around the country. That’s something for Col. Hodges to be proud of, but it’s also something that Saint Martin’s, Microsoft, and all of us in the Puget Sound can be proud of.”


    “Let’s take a good look at the accomplishments of the men and women here today and replicate it, not only for every transitioning service member at JBLM, but for all of those in Kitsap, Everett, Spokane, and across the country.”


    Full text of Senator Murray’s remarks below:
     


    “Thank you so much, Dr. Heynderickx, for that introduction, and thank you for hosting us here at Saint Martin’s.

     
    “I’d like to first thank Colonel Hodges, the Base Commander at JBLM - he has been so instrumental in making today a reality.

     
    “I’d also like to thank our partners from Microsoft and Launch Consulting who are here today.
     

    “And most importantly, I’d like to thank the friends, family, and colleagues who are all here to support the service men and women we’re honoring today.
     

    “All of us - whether we’re business owners, educators, or elected officials - are working hard to support your sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and moms and dads who serve in the military, but there is no greater support structure for veterans and members of the military than their families and loved ones….so before we honor these graduates - I also want to thank all of you: for supporting them  and for the sacrifices you’ve made, too, to make today possible.
     

    “And you know, speaking with all of you here today is really a special moment for me. I’ve been in the US Senate for more than 20 years now. I’ve lived around military families here in Washington state for my entire life, and I’m the daughter of a World War II veteran, so, speaking with veterans, service members, and their families is something I’m used to.


     
    “But throughout my career, and really, throughout my entire life...I’ve mostly seen what veterans and their families go through when they don’t have access to the care they need after serving, when they don’t have support and opportunities to start new lives as a civilians, and when they don’t have support from the communities and institutions that make up the places they call home.
     


    “So today - really - is one of the very few opportunities I’ve had to stand with members of our military, veterans, and their families, to celebrate something we’re doing right.
     


    “Now - everyone here knows well - probably many of you know firsthand - that military service is tough. It’s not for the faint of heart…but transitioning from military to civilian life isn’t easy, either.
     


    “And I really believe that right now, we’re living in a defining moment when it comes to the treatment of our nation’s veterans and helping current service members transition out. It’s a time when our older veterans population – including so many of our Vietnam veterans – are increasingly relying on VA care.

     
    “But we’re also at a pivotal point - an opportunity we cannot afford to miss -  to properly care for an entire generation of post-9/11 veterans, who have endured a decade of repeated deployments, unbelievable stress on their families,  and the visible and invisible wounds of war

     
    “That challenge - to meet the needs of these brave men and women not decades down the road, but from the moment they begin the process of transitioning to civilian life - is truly one of our nation’s great tasks at hand.

     
    “And right here, in the backyard of our country’s most important military bases - all of you know that better than most.

     
    “Since 9/11, nearly 3 million Americans have served in the military, and every year 6,000 men and women from JBLM transition to civilian life, and combined with others from across the country, 13,000 veterans begin their civilian lives here in Washington state each year...and each one them faces a job market that is uncertain and highly-competitive.


     
    “It’s a problem that they face along with millions of other Americans...but for veterans, many of the barriers to employment are unique.


     
    “Most of these men and women have spent the last decade being shuttled back and forth to war-zones half a world away…

    “And when it’s time to make big changes and start new careers the road home isn’t always smooth, the red tape is often long, and the transition from the battlefield to the workplace is never easy.


     
    “So for too long, veterans have often been left behind by their peers who didn’t make the same sacrifices for their nation at a critical time in their lives.

     
    “For too long, many veterans haven’t realized the skills they possess and their value in the workplace.

     
    “And for too long, they’ve been discouraged by a job market that is unfamiliar to them after their service.

     
    “But all of us here know that’s not right.

     

    “We know the men and women here today and all our veterans have the leadership ability, discipline, and technical skills to not only find work, but excel in growing industries and jobs of the future.


     
    “You know, a few years ago, I became the Chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and one of the first things I did was criss-cross Washington state to different worker retraining programs, VA facilities, and veterans halls to hear first hand from veterans what challenges they were facing.
     


    “And over a few months, I had some heartbreaking and frustrating conversations.
     


    “I heard from veterans who said they no longer wrote that they’re a veteran on their resume because of the stigma they believed employers attach to the invisible wounds of war.

     
    “I heard from medics who returned home from treating battlefield wounds and couldn’t get certifications to be an EMT or to drive an ambulance.
     

    “I talked to veterans who told me that the military spent countless hours getting them the skills to do their job in the field, but little time teaching them how to translate those skills into the workplace.
     
    “Sometimes - the problems were very complicated. Other times - they were simple issues.
     
    “But what struck me the most was that more often than not - these issues were preventable.
     
    “We were patting our veterans on the back to thank them for their service, but then we just sent them out into the job market alone - without the basic help they needed.
     
    “And it showed.
     
    “Double-digit unemployment for veterans was the norm, the status quo. In 2011, the average unemployment rate for returning veterans was over 12 percent. And one out of every four veterans between the ages of 20 and 24 was without a job.
     
    “So I got started working with members of both parties - Republicans and Democrats - to write the VOW to Hire Heroes Act - which, I’m proud to say, became the law of the land just a few months later.
     
    “The VOW Act, as we call it, created ways to ease the transition from the battlefield to the working world.
     
    “For the first time, it required broad job skills training for every service member as they leave the military as part of the military’s Transition Assistance Program.
     
    “It allowed service members to begin the federal employment process prior to separation and have a truly seamless transition from the military to jobs in government.
     
    “And it required the Department of Labor to take a hard look at what military skills and training should be translatable into the civilian sector in order to make it simpler for our veterans to get the licenses and certifications they need.
     
    “Most importantly - it helped military bases across the country, like JBLM, start their own programs to help service men and women transition.
     
    “And as we stand here today unemployment among recent veterans is way down - on par with the rest of the country, post-9/11 veterans are being hired at a faster rate than non-veterans, and at JBLM, where 45% of service members once participated in transition assistance programs - 90% of the men and women transitioning to civilian life are getting the help they deserve.
     
    “Now, these programs have been a huge success - but they’re only part of the puzzle.
     
    “Because no matter how much we do to prepare our veterans for the workplace - we can’t succeed in fully transitioning them to civilian life without strong, lasting partnerships with businesses, labor organizations,  colleges, and universities.
     
    “And that’s why this program and this ceremony today are so special - because right here, we have top-ranking military leaders from JBLM, executives from Microsoft - one of our nation’s most successful businesses, and educators from Saint Martin’s University all working together to create a seamless, successful transition for men and women who’ve worn the uniform.
     
    “I can tell you - when I wrote the VOW Act, this is exactly what I hoped and envisioned for all our nation’s veterans...
     
    ...and let’s also give credit where it’s due: because the transition program at JBLM is setting the standard for military bases around the country.

    “That’s something for Col. Hodges to be proud of, but it’s also something that Saint Martin’s, Microsoft, and all of us in the Puget Sound  can be proud of
     
    “Trust me - I’m going to brag about this to my colleagues back in Washington, DC.
     
    “So, to the twenty-two graduates here today and to your families - congratulations - you deserve all the opportunities and successes that lay ahead of you.
     
    “And for the rest of us - let’s take a good look at the accomplishments of the men and women here today and replicate it , not only for every transitioning service member at JBLM, but for all of those in Kitsap, Everett,  Spokane,  and across the country.
     
    “So thank you again - I’m thrilled to be here as the first class graduates from this program, but I’m even more thrilled that this is only the beginning.
     
    “Thank you.”
    ###
     
    Kathryn Robertson
    Deputy Press Secretary 
    Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
    154 Russell Senate Office Building
    Washington D.C. 20510
    202-224-2834






     
     
     
    RSS Feed for Senator Murray's office












     

    aswat al-iraq

    The Jewish archives

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    The Jewish archives stolen by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s and discovered by U.S. forces in 2003 were restored by the U.S. National Archives and the White House plans to give them to Iraq shortly instead of their rightful owners, the Jewish community.


    Robert Fattal (Jerusalem Post) notes:

    Which brings me back to the exhibit of Iraqi Jewish artifacts at the National Archives in Washington. I have no doubt the archives should not be returned. It would be a terrible and ironic injustice to have this catalogue of Jewish life in Iraq returned to the nation that caused the 2,600-year-old tradition to be destroyed.

    What is the Iraqi government going to do with it? Where will it go? How will it be protected? Will Iraq really use it as an opportunity to educate its population about the widespread fascist bigotry that ran rampant at the time? Or will it be used to further promote the false narrative that Jews were treated well, and that they left of their own volition, and that Israel made sure that any lingering communities were forced to leave? These are questions that the government of Iraq must answer.

    Whether or not the archives are returned to Iraq, one thing is certain: we Iraqi Jews will be forgotten and the decision will be made by others and without our input.

    If they are returned and by some miracle the Iraqi government does set up a museum exposing the injustices inspired by previous governments, that will be no small detail. I wonder, though, even if that unlikely scenario comes to pass, how many Iraqi Jews or their descendants will be able to visit such an exhibit. Something to think about before the treasure trove is returned.


    There is a strong push back on this and it is growing.

    Maybe we can convince U.S. President Barack Obama to do the right thing.

    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    Wednesday, December 4, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri is hit with tidal waves of bad news, Nouri's State of Law suffers a high profile defection, his trip to Iran is called out, polls suggest State of Law is in third place, in the US continued revelations of illegal spying, and more.



    Stephen McDonnell (Australia's ABC News) reports that US Vice President Joe Biden was in China today talking about trust, "Candour generates trust.  Trust is the basis on which real change, constructive change, is made." It was really the wrong day for US officials to be preaching 'trust,' on the day when major revelations about NSA spying broke.   It could have been worse possibly.  For example, Biden could have been making those remarks in Cuba November 24th -- when Pravda reported:

    The Agency for International Development (USAID) revealed the existence of a subversive program of six million dollars against Cuba. This information was known due to an error when using an unprotected line to send documents to U.S. diplomats in Havana. The plan was part of the semi-clandestine ploy to overthrow the communist government.
    The material reveals that the entity launched last July the initiative SOL-OAA-13-00110 and at least 20 NGOs requested funding for the program which was to train dissidents in Cuba in the next three years, with a fund of $6 million. The goal was to provide opportunities for the opponents of the revolution traveling abroad , where they would acquire technical skills in a "number of areas considered important for the development of democracy and civil society" in Cuba,  in clear subversion of the political order.


    At the US State Dept Press briefing today, spokesperson Marie Harf was jabbering away about the "critical leadership role" played by the US government.

    QUESTION: Marie, do you have a response to the Pew Research poll that was released yesterday which found that for the first time since the polls started, a majority of Americans say that the U.S. plays a less important and powerful role as a world leader than ever before?


    MS. HARF: Well, I haven’t seen that poll. I’m happy to take a look at the numbers and see if I have anything additional to say on it. I think we’ve been very clear that -- in our policies all around the world that the U.S. plays a critical leadership role, and whether it’s economically, diplomatically, and a host of areas. And that’s why you see the Secretary traveling so much around the world to promote our interests and our values and talk about this all the time with different world leaders. So I would, I think, take issue with the notion, but I’m happy to look at the numbers and see if I have more analysis for you of it.



    Poor Harf, she's always got at least one foot in her mouth.  The the illegal spying?  This evening Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani (Washington Post) filed a major report:


    The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable.

    The records feed a vast database that stores information about the locations of at least hundreds of millions of devices, according to the officials and the documents, which were provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. New projects created to analyze that data have provided the intelligence community with what amounts to a mass surveillance tool.


    The Washington Post has an illustrated walk through or flow chart on how this is taking place.  Dana Liebelson (Mother Jones) goes through the Post's report and identifies five revelations including, "This is the big one -- 'A central feature of each of these tools is that they do not rely on knowing a particulat target in advance, or even suspecting one.  They operate on the full universe of data in the NSA's [repository] which stores trillions of metadata records, of which a large but unknown fraction include locations,' wrote the Post.  An intelligence lawyer said the data collection is not covered by the Fourth Amendment, which outlaws unreasonable searches and seizures."


    The ACLU issued the following statement today:


    December 4, 2013
    CONTACT: media@aclu.org
    NEW YORK – The NSA is tracking the locations of a huge number of cell phones around the world, according to an article published today by The Washington Post. The report, based on documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, says the agency is analyzing the movements of many millions of cell phones worldwide, including those belonging to Americans travelling abroad. Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, had this reaction:
    “It is staggering that a location-tracking program on this scale could be implemented without any public debate, particularly given the substantial number of Americans having their movements recorded by the government. The paths that we travel every day can reveal an extraordinary amount about our political, professional, and intimate relationships. The dragnet surveillance of hundreds of millions of cell phones flouts our international obligation to respect the privacy of foreigners and Americans alike. The government should be targeting its surveillance at those suspected of wrongdoing, not assembling massive associational databases that by their very nature record the movements of a huge number of innocent people.”
    More information on NSA spying is at:
    aclu.org/nsa-surveillance



    Michael Winter (USA Today) notes, "The NSA said it does not intentionally target Americans' whereabouts but gets location data 'incidentally,' which the agency has declared lawful and aimed at foreign intelligence targets." Oh, well then, that takes care of it because the NSA would never lie.  Oops, James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence lied to Congress.  Fred Kaplan (Slate) observed in June:


    Back at an open congressional hearing on March 12, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Clapper, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?” Clapper replied, “No sir … not wittingly.” As we all now know, he was lying.

    We also now know that Clapper knew he was lying.

    Not only did Clapper lie but the White House sent the message that it was okay for Clapper to lie.  President Barack Obama sent this message by refusing to call for Clapper's immediate resignation.  Under Barack Obama, it is acceptable to lie to the Congress and the American people.  When an administration has no ethics, it's one scandal after another (thereby summing up 2013).  The lying never ends.  And it's not limited to the White House.  As Ali Watkins (McClatchy Newspaper) reminds, Senator Dianne Feinstein spoke about this spying in October but the NSA said she was wrong and Feinstein then avoided the press and had a statement issued about her being mistaken in her statements.


    Monday, Kevin Gosztola (FireDogLake) reported:


    A sheet of talking points for employees of the National Security Agency and Central Security Services, was sent out ahead of Thanksgiving to help guide conversations with family and friends during the holiday season.
    Firedoglake obtained a copy of a two-page document that was sent out on November 22. It was clearly put together for rebutting statements about the NSA from news stories on documents disclosed by former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden, and it encouraged employees to “share the following points with family members and close friends.”

    The “talking points” sheet suggests that employees make five key points: (1) NSA’s mission is of great value to the Nation”; (2) NSA performs its mission the right way—lawful, compliant and in a way that protects civil liberties and privacy; (3) NSA performs its mission exceptionally well. We strive to be the best that we can be, because that’s what America requires as part of its defense in a dangerous world; (4) The people who work for NSA are loyal Americans with expert skills who make sacrifices to help protect the freedoms we all cherish; (5) NSA is committed to increased transparency, public dialog and faithful implementation of any changes required by our overseers. (No emphasis added. Underlines appear in the document.)


    Creating an official series of talking points which are secretly distributed to government employees?  That's dangerously close to a form of propaganda that's illegal in the United States -- the sort of propaganda which legally prevents The Voice of America from broadcasting over US radio airwaves.  Mike Masnick (TechDirt) observes, "The NSA defends this program, arguing (as it always does) that there's nothing wrong with doing what it's doing. Billions of people living around the globe might disagree." Spencer Ackerman (Guardian) rebuts the talking points here.

    The Guardian's a British newspaper and today's revelations are being covered by the world press.  Hayley Dixon (Telegraph of London) notes:

     The latest leaks come as Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat Home Office minister, called for an inquiry into state surveillance.
    Mr Baker defended the Guardian's publication of secret information.

    When asked by the New Statesman whether he would like to see an inquiry into the allegations, he said: "Yes. In my view, it's perfectly reasonable for the Guardian to raise questions about the balance between the state and the individual to take account of the fact that technology has moved on a huge amount and the law was drafted when we didn't have the means of communication we do now – Skype and everything else – and the capacity of the security services, or the Americans, to engage in trawling for stuff." 

    Australia's The Age carries the Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani report.  The Philippine Star runs Kimberly Dozier's AP report.  The Press Trust of India covers the latest revelations here.  Germany's Deutsche Welle covers it here.  Iran's Press TV covers it here.

    One country whose media isn't yet covering the story is Iraq.  They have plenty to cover already with campaign season taking place and a major defection from Nouri's political coalition.

    State of Law is the coalition Nouri created.  Today it's the coalition with a high profile defection.  Iraq Times notes that State of Law's leader in Parliament, Izzat al-Shahbandar, is the topic of speculation with rumors flying that he had resigned from State of Law.  Alsumaria then reported that they could confirm the resignation via multiple sources.  Hours later, All Iraq News noted Izzat al-Shahbander had publicly announced his resignation and declared, "The SLC [State of Law Coalition] turned into a sectarian coalition." All Iraq News also noted that al-Shahbander met with cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr on Tuesday.  Kitabat quotes him stating that Nouri's positions and actions do not reflect his own beliefs and he cites Nouri's refusal to work with political opponents or to respect the ongoing sit-ins.

    This is a major blow to Nouri.  It's a loss at a time when Nouri's personal prestige was already on the decline.  It's a loss that al-Shahbander and Moqtada can spin as 'the building of a new Iraq.' The two were at odds for some time.  In fact, in 2011, the Sadr bloc was accusing al-Shahbander (and other State of Law MPs -- but they specifically named al-Shahbander) of procuring women for Nouri in the Green Zone. Now that can be put behind them, is the message, and the unity and good of Iraq can instead be embraced.

    This is a very damaging political move for Nouri.  He's an all around failure.  His big photo-op at the White House didn't lead to praise in Iraq -- a number of outlets ran photos of a visibly bored Barack turned away from Nouri who sat there looking pathetic.  The private rebuke from the European Union (over the attacks on human rights in Iraq) became public in the media.


    There's also the perception that Nouri is bleeding supporters.  I do not interpret the 2013 provincial elections that way but the western press does.  To lose the head of your bloc in Parliament on top of that?  With elections just month away?

    Alsumaria reports on polls that show State of Law to be in third place among the voters.   Iraq Times reports former Minister of Finance Baqir Jabr al-Zubeidi states his Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution is winning the polls, followed by the Sadr bloc and then third-placed Nouri.  He also rejects the notion that anyone should serve more than two terms as prime minister and the insisting (by Dawa) that if Nouri's not prime minister the prime minister must still be a member of the Dawa Party.

    It's not a good week for Nouri.


    Iraqiya won the 2010 elections which meant Iraqiya head Ayad Allawi should have been named prime minister.  That did not happen.  But today Allawi Tweets a message (with video) calling on Iraqis to participate in the elections and ensure that the elections are free and fair.



    يجب على كلٍ منا أن يؤدي دوره ويعطي للآخر وهذا من خلال قرار الشعب العراقي الكريم في انتخابات حرة نزيهة. نرفق لكم...






    Allawi did not become prime minister because the White House voided the election results.  They did this by brokering a contract (The Erbil Agreement) that gave Nouri a second term he did not win.  The political blocs signed off on the contract, under heavy US pressure, for two reasons: (a) it was now November, 8 months after the elections and Nouri's refusal to step down had brought the governmnet to a standstill for 8 months and (b) in exchange for a second term, Nouri agreed to do certain things (such as implement Article 140 of the Iraqi Constituion).  Nouri never lived up to his contractual promises.



    Yesterday, Mustafa al-Kadhimi (Al-Monitor) reported that few Iraqis have bothered to update their records for voting:


    The low number of voters who showed up to update their records in preparation for the legislative elections in April 2014 is worrisome and raises questions about the will for change. The figures leaked from the Electoral Commission indicate that fewer than 500,000 people updated their records days before the expiration of the statutory period.
    Even though leaders such as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr called on voters to update their records, this failed to raise the participation rates to numbers significant enough to make an impact.
    This raises concerns of political leaders such as Ethel Nujaifi, the governor of Mosul, who said that only 4% of Mosul’s Arabs showed up to update their records.


    It's a bit difficult to get excited about voting when the US government keeps overturning your votes.  First, in 2006, Bully Boy Bush rejected the Iraqi Parliament's choice for prime minister (Ibrahim al-Jafaari) and insisted on installing Nouri al-Maliki then, in 2010, Barack Obama insisted Nouri get a second term the Iraqi voters vetoed.  Why exactly are they supposed to be eager to vote?

    They keep voting and the US government keeps overturning their votes.

    Barack Obama seriously harmed Iraq's chances to become a democracy when he refused to honor the Iraqi's people voice and instead dismissed the votes to back Nouri.

    Now Nouri wants a third term.

    Today, he went to Iran.  MP Amir al-Kinani tells All Iraq News, "Maliki's visit to Iran is to ensure his nomination as the PM of Iraq for the third term and not, as stated, about congratulating the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, for his nomination as the President of Iran because he was not elected recently.  Maliki's political attempts are to get the third post as the PM post where he had gone to USA before for the same purpose." Fars News Agency reports on Nouri's visit, "During the news conference in the Iranian capital today, Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki reiterated the necessity for increasing exchange of visits between the two countries’ businessmen and trade officials in a bid to further consolidate Iran-Iraq economic ties." Iraq Times reports MP Zala Naftiji, who serves on Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, has denounced the visit noting that they were only informed of it this week and informed of it by the media, not Nouri's office.  All Iraq News quotes Moqtada al-Sadr describing the government as "weak and unable to protect itself."


    In more bad news for Nouri, Jaclyn Jaeger (Compliance Week) reports, "Spain, Libya, and Iraq are just a few countries who fared worst than last year in Transparency International's 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index. Spain slipped from 30th place in 2012 to 40th this year out of 177 countries around the world where perceptions about corruption were measured. Libya fell 12 places from 160 in 2012 to 172 in 2013; Iraq also from 169th place in 2012 to 171 in 2013."

    National Iraqi News Agency reports that former police chief Colonel Abdullah al-Jabouri was shot dead in Shirqat, a Mosul bombing left three police officers injured, a Hadeetha bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left two more injured, "the director of the psychiatric department of Yarmouk hospital" was shot while "near Omi-Ttobool mosque" today (the doctor was either injured or killed -- it's not clear which), a Mosul grenade attack left two people injured, an attack on a police chekpoint in al-Hamidhiyah left 3 police officers dead and four more injured, a Falluja attack left 1 police officer dead and another injured, a Mosul roadside bombing claimed the lives of 2 police officers with two more left injured, a Mosul shooting left 1 man dead and his brother injured, 2 people were shot dead in Ramadi, a Qaim roadside bombing left 1 Iraqi soldier dead and four more injured, a Muqdadiyah roadside bombing left four people injured, a Kirkuk sticky bombing left four people injured, a Yathrib sticky bombing claimed 1 life and left two more people injured, the federal police shot dead 1 suspect "southwest of Bahgdad," and a Kirkuk bombing and shootings left 5 people dead and sixty more injured.

    From Monday's snapshot:

    Let's stay with political news out of Iraq.  All Iraq News reports today that arrest warrants have been issued against two members of Moqtada al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc -- MP Jawad al-Shihaili and Baha al-Araji.  al-Araji is charged with "damaging general properties" and al-Shihaili is charged with "stealing state's revenues." These warrants come only after Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports MPs are accusing Nouri al-Maliki of misuse of state resources on his recent trip to Basra -- including, Moqtada's bloc pointed out, Nouri offering up land plots.  MPs see the visit as typical Nouri trying to bribe for votes but the difference this time is that a law's been passed to make this illegal.


    Tuesday, NINA reported:


    A member of the Parliamentary Committee on Integrity, MP for the Ahrar bloc Jawad al-Shayli accused the Dawa Party behind the arrest warrant issued against him.
    He said, at a news conference in the House of Representatives today that the judiciary issued an arrest warrant against him and MP Jawad Hasnawi and a memorandum of bringing against the head’sbloc Bahaa al-Araji , accusing the Dawa Party of being behind it , with the aim of political targeting, comparing the work of the Dawa Party, now with Baath Party.
    He added : "The warrant relating to charges in accordance with Article 316 of embezzlement of state funds , which means the money of the medical treatment, which he took from the House of Representatives ."
    He said : "The MP, of the State of law, Khalid al-Attiyah took four times this expense ," wondering : "Why did not issue an arrest warrant against Al-Attiyah, and many MPs of state of law ," adding : "The aim of these warrants is political targeting ."



    Dar Addustour reports today that a judiciary source states the call for the arrests came personally from Nouri.



    Meanwhile members of the European Parliament issued the following statement today:


    On Wednesday, Dec. 4, senior members from various political groups within the European Parliament condemned the continuation of gross human rights violations in Iran under the Rouhani presidency. They also warned against offering any concessions to the mullahs in return for their hollow gestures on the nuclear dispute, and called for immediate action by the EU, US and the UN to release seven Iranian dissidents taken hostage by the Government of Iraq, and to guarantee the safety and security of the members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Iraq.
    These MEPs were taking part in a major conference at the European Parliament that was organized by Friends of a Free Iran (FoFI). Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of Iranian Resistance, took a leading role in the conference. Rita Süssmuth, former President of the German Bundestag, was another prominent guest. Rajavi pointed out that "if the agreement between the P5+1 and Iran is a prelude to the complete implementation of UN Security Council resolutions, it can be considered the beginning of a trend that upsets the regime's internal and external balance.
    There is widespread pressure from the Iranian people to end the mullahs' demented and insane nuclear program. Nothing short of the full and complete dismantling of the regime's nuclear program is acceptable."
    According to the MEPs, Tehran had no choice but to accept a setback, due to international sanctions and its fear of another mass uprising similar to that of 2009.  But in return, unacceptable concessions were made, especially by the EU and US, including allowing enrichment, doing without the Additional Protocol, and allowing Iran to refuse snap inspections. All of this leaves the key to bomb-making in the mullahs' hands. The MEPs warned if the international community does not head for full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions, including a total halt to uranium enrichment and acceptance of the Additional Protocol, the regime will once again covertly advance their bomb-making activities.

    "In the nuclear talks in Geneva it was all about smiles, handshakes and diplomacy," said Jim Huggins, a member of the Parliament's Bureau from Ireland. "But at the end of the day we are dealing with a corrupt regime. It is all about cosmetic concessions for Iran only to have the sanctions lifted."
    The participants called on the P5+1, especially the US and European countries and Baroness Ashton, to stop making concessions to Tehran on the nuclear issue and to demand complete implementation of Security Council resolutions, full cessation of uranium enrichment, halting of plutonium production projects, and acceptance of the Additional Protocol and snap inspections of suspicious sites.
    According to the European Parliamentarians, almost six months after the election of Hassan Rouhani,  human rights condition have deteriorated, the number of recorded executions has already reached 400, the export of terrorism and fundamentalism has intensified and the Iranian regime's meddling in Syria has increased dramatically.
    MEPs were vociferously critical of the policies of the West regarding the massacre of Iranian dissidents at Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, in Iraq. On September 1, the forces of the Government of Iraq, at the behest of the Iranian regime, raided Ashraf and executed 52 defenceless residents, members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), as well as taking seven hostage, including six women.
    The participants called for an impartial investigation into the massacre and underscored that the EU, especially Baroness Ashton's silence and inaction towards this great crime against humanity is totally unacceptable. They stressed that the EU, US, UN and especially the UN Security Council should force the Iraqi government to live up to its responsibilities and free the seven hostages, while also removing obstructions against providing urgent provisions for the security of Camp Liberty.

    Straun Stevenson, President of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq who had just come back from a visit to Iraqi Kurdistan warned, "It is time for Baroness Ashton, John Kerry and Ban Ki-moon to face up to the reality, end the appeasement and demand the release of the seven hostages Maliki is holding. They must call for an independent, internal investigation and hold Maliki accountable for the September 1 massacre and the other atrocities in camps Ashraf and Liberty."
    Alejo Vidal Quadras, a Vice President of the Parliament added "Lady Ashton still remains silent in the face of the crime against humanity in Camp Ashraf, which is still ongoing... Lady Ashton must call for the release of the hostages and I tell you that EP relations with Iraq will be damaged severely should Iraq not comply."
    According to the participants, the US government could and can impel Iraq to free the hostages and provide security for Liberty. If they did so, there would be no need for the ongoing hunger strike by hundreds of Iranians the world over. But, three months after the September 1 attack, even the slightest security measures in Liberty are being opposed by the Iraqi government.

    The MEPs pointed out that Maliki is visiting Iran to gain support for his third term as prime minister, something that is opposed by all Iraqi political factions. He counts on Tehran, and in exchange Tehran asks for the complete massacre of the PMOI in Camp Liberty. The conference was also told that there are suspicions that Maliki will use his visit to Tehran to arrange for the seven Ashrafi hostages to be secretly deported to Iran, where they will face certain torture and execution.




























    Was immigration law broken?

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    NewsBusters is a right-wing media critic.  In the snapshot today, C.I. notes the many people who are not related to President Barack Obama that have been deported.  At the public account, Scott Whitlock's post at NewsBusters was sent in and it includes this:


    Onyango Obama will be allowed to stay in the country after a Boston judge reopened his case and intervened. Noticiero Univision reporter Luis Megid noted, "Onyango had a lot of luck, but there are those who ask if he would have had it if he hadn't been the President's uncle." Megid then featured an unidentified woman on the street who bluntly concluded, "I believe it has been favoritism." The journalist wondered, "What probability does a person with a deportation order have that his case would be re-opened?" [See Spanish language video below. MP3 audio here.]


    Immigration lawyer Paula Solorio responded: "Almost none, because when Immigration detains a person with an old deportation order, the government is going to execute the earlier order."

    She added, "Obama's uncle had the luck of getting an agreement with the U.S. ICE prosecutor to re-open the case. That's what happened. For any other person, the government is going to execute the order."



    For those who do not know Univision, it is a network that serves the Spanish community in the United States (Telemundo is another one).  I do not believe it has a left or a right slant.

    I think that someone needs to be asking questions about the issues the immigration attorney Paula Solorio raised.

    Is this not normal?  Is the practice basically unheard of?

    We are not supposed two sets of justice in this country -- one for elected officials and one for everyone else. 

    If the process was abused, we need to know that.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    Thursday, December 5, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri's State of Law tries (and fails) to spin for him, the conflict between Nouri and cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr gets more attention, one journalist sees the upcoming election as a race between Nouri and Moqtada, Nelson Mandela has passed away, US President Barack Obama is caught in another lie, and more.



    International inspiration, freedom fighter and world figure Nelson Mandela passed away today.  The Tavis Smiley Show (PBS) will explore the meaning of Mandela this evening:

    In a tribute to Nelson Mandela, Tavis talks with activist-entertainer Harry Belafonte, Rep. Maxine Waters and talk show host Larry King, all of whose paths crossed with this extraordinary man, and also shares a personal memory of the then-ANC deputy president’s 1990 visit to Los Angeles.
    Nelson Mandela dedicated his life to fighting for equality and helped transform the future of a nation. He moved the world when he became the first Black president in a part of the world engulfed by apartheid.
    From a 27-year incarceration for his activities in South Africa's anti-apartheid movement to winning the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming president of the Republic of South Africa, spending his retirement years raising money to build schools and clinics in South Africa's rural areas and sharing his life and struggles in several books, Mandela proved that one man can make a difference. The world has lost a courageous and inspiring human being.
    In a tribute to his life and legacy, we're joined by three people who have very personal remembrances of meeting the great man. Harry Belafonte—a tireless advocate for justice and equality in his own right—was a longtime friend and chaired the organization that introduced then-ANC Deputy President Mandela to the U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters first met Nelson Mandela in Los Angeles during his first visit to the United States. And, venerable talk show host Larry King had the privilege of interviewing President Mandela several times.


    Next topic, are you an undocumented worker in the US?  Better hope you're related to the President of the United States.  As his aunt and uncle demonstrate, when you're related to him, even though you've been ordered out of the country, you get to stay.  Everybody else, the White House insists, get out.

    In his first term alone, he deported over 1.4 billion people. Wednesday morning, Cedric's "He can't stop lying" and Wally's "THIS JUST IN! HE LIES ABOUT EVERYTHING!" -- joint-post -- noted an interesting development in Onyango Obama's drunk driving case -- he told the judge that Barack lived with him for three weeks.  The White House had insisted, following Onyango Obama's 2011 drunk driving arrest, that Barack had never, ever met his uncle (the only brother of Barack Obama Sr.).

    Well pop goes the weasel!


    Here's how Jeff Mason (Reuters) rushes to cover for Barack:

    President Barack Obama lived briefly with his Kenyan-born uncle while attending law school, the White House said on Thursday, reversing earlier statements that there was no record of the two men ever having met.
    White House spokesman Jay Carney said he clarified the issue with the president directly after reports that Onyango Obama, who faced deportation from the United States, said he had housed his nephew temporarily.

    I know about the drunk driving only through Cedric and Wally's previous coverage.  It's not an 'issue' I follow. But even I knew that the White House stated the two had never met.

    You can be sure Barack Obama also knew the White House stated it.

    Or is this another moment of, "Nobody told me!"

    For two years, Barack let a lie stand.  For two years, he refused to correct the record.

    And now he's only doing it because his uncle's remarks in court leaked out.

    Maria Sacchetti (Boston Globe) reminds:


    In November 2011, a White House spokesman said he had no record of the two ever meeting. The Washington Post had also reported that scholars believed the two had never met.
    The White House never moved to correct the record, until the president’s famously private uncle took the witness stand in Boston immigration court two days ago.

    It's a lie.

    That's not, "Impeach him!  For lying!" But don't pretend that it didn't happen.  I'd actually be more forgiving if we were told the clarification included a lie -- because this claim that he hadn't spoken to the man in 10 years and hadn't been face-to-face with him in 20?

    That's disgusting.

    Barack groupie Bruce Springsteen has a song entitled "Highway Patrolman" (first appears on Nebraska):

    Yeah me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin'
    Nothin' feels better than blood on blood
    Takin' turns dancin' with Maria as the band
    Played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
    I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother would
    Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good.

    Barack had no blood relatives on the mainland (Hawaii's not the mainland, love the state, have a home there, but it's not the mainland).  At that time or after.  So to have an uncle in Boston when Barack's living in Chicago and Barack has no contact with him?

    That's disgusting.

    Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good

    Apparently 'Dreams of My Father' are safe because Daddy's dead but to have your father's brother alive?  You can use him when you're going to college but you have no desire to make your own living blood relative on the mainland part of your life?  That's really sad.

    But the lying part?  To the American people, that's just unacceptable.  It's not crime, you can't be impeached for it.  But it's really sad that Barack is so unable to tell the truth.  As Rebecca observed last night, noting Bruce A. Dixon's audio commentary for Black Agenda Report about Barack and Attorney General Eric Holder's remarks versus actions, "they just never stop lying, this administration."

    Again, his latest lie?  Not a crime, not an impeachable offense.  It does, however, go to pattern and it goes to character.  There's a reason he's polling so poorly and is considered untrustworthy. Maybe Ann Dumham didn't teach him Aesop's fable about The  Boy Who Cried Wolf?  Let's review it by way of a scene from season two of Kate & Allie, the "Rear Window" episode written by Stu Hample -- Susan Saint James played Kate, Jane Curtin played Allie and Fred Koehler played Chip.

    Allie: Have you ever heard the story of the little boy who cried wolf?

    Chip: Yeah, it's about a little boy who cried wolf.

    Allie:  A shepherd.  The little shepherd went into the field one day and he got bored so he cried wolf.  And all the villagers came running.

    Kate:  Right and when they saw there was no wolf, they got mad and they went home.

    Allie:  And the next week, he went into the field again, and he got bored again and he cried wolf again

    Kate:  And all the villagers came and when they saw there was no wolf there, they really got mad and went home again. 

    Allie:  But the next time there really was a wolf.  And the little boy cried wolf but nobody came. And the wolf ate the little boy.  


    In the wake of yesterday's NSA spying revelations, Barack wanted to vouch for the NSA in an interview today, wanted people to believe him.  Matthew Hoye (CNN) quotes Barack declaring, "I've said before and I will say it again, the N.S.A. actually does a very good job about not engaging in domestic surveillance, not reading people's emails, not- listening to their- the contents of their phone calls. Outside of our borders, the N.S.A.'s more aggressive."

    He wants to be believed.

    After "If you like your plan, you can keep it." After misleading the American public with a tale of never having met his uncle.  After that and so much more, he wants to be believed.

    It's not that easy.

    The lies that you tell 
    Will leave you alone
    They'll keep you down
    They'll catch you up and trip you up
    Keep you hangin' around
    -- "Love You By Heart," written by Carly Simon, Jacob Brackman and Libby Titus, first appears on Carly's Spy

    Moving from Barack's statements to one by the US Embassy in Iraq today:

    The U.S. Condemns December 4th Terrorist Attack in Kirkuk

    December 5, 2013

    The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad strongly condemns the December 4 terrorist attack in Kirkuk in which dozens of people were killed or injured. The United States is committed in its support to the Government of Iraq in combating terrorism. We extend our sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the attack and hope for a rapid recovery of the injured.


    AFP reports:

    Security forces early Thursday ended an hours-long siege at a mall in the northern city of Kirkuk but not before militants killed nine people, security officials and medics said.
    The attack Wednesday on the mall in the oil rich ethnic tinderbox city, which involved a car bomb and would-be suicide bombers, came amid a surge in unrest that has claimed more than 6,200 lives this year.


    In other violence, National Iraqi News Agency reports a Mada'in roadside bombing claimed 1 life and left five people injured, a Qara-Tepeh bombing claimed 1 life and left two injured, 3 people (two college students, one Sahwa) were shot dead in Mosul, 1 college student was killed in another shooting in Mosul, 1 Shabak was shot dead in Mosul, 1 Ministry of Industry employee was shot dead in Baghdad, the corpses of 2 Sahwa were discovered in Baghdad, and "Gunmen, wearing military uniforms, assassinated on Thursday 5, Dec the police officer of Aski police station after storming his house on the night of one of his sons wedding, killing three others, including the groom."

    Meanwhile Aswat al-Iraq notes that "200 Badush prison guards in Mosul" have resigned "due to assassinations and threats."

    As noted at the Prime Minister's official website, Nouri al-Maliki, wrapping up his two day visit to Iran, met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

    nouri iran

    The visit comes amid increasing division within the governing Shi’ite coalition in Iraq. It follows an announcement by the Sadrist Bloc in Iraq’s parliament, led by Moqtada Al-Sadr, and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, led by Ammar Al-Hakim, of their intention to fight the next parliamentary elections on separate lists and open the door to new alliances in order to choose an alternative prime minister to Maliki.
    Meanwhile, the State of Law Coalition, which Maliki leads, insisted on Maliki’s nomination for the premiership for a third term, a move rejected by the Sadrists and the Supreme Council.

    Jawad Al-Jubouri, a member of the Sadrist Al-Ahrar Bloc, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The visit may seem like a state visit by a senior official, such as a prime minister, who is working on Iraqi international relations, especially with neighboring states. However, the problem is in the timing of the visit, because carrying out two visits in close succession to two important countries, the United States and Iran, makes observers suspicious.”


    There are reports that he was rebuffed.  As Dar Addustour notes, his sudden visit follows cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr's announcement that Iranian authorities had decided they would not back Nouri for a third term.  Moqtada made those statements on the weekend.  On Monday, the media learned Nouri had decided to make a sudden trip to Iran.  He did not inform Parliament of the hastily cobbled together visit.

    Harith Hasan (Al-Monitor) looks at the conflict between Nouri and Moqtada:


    While the last Iraqi general election in 2010 revolved around the rivalry between the State of Law Coalition, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the Iraqiya List, led by Ayad Allawi, the upcoming elections in April 2014 are more likely to be affected by the worsening conflict between Maliki and Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr. The latter has recently emerged as a major critic of the prime minister’s policies, even calling Maliki a dictator and advising him to not seek a third term.
    With the disintegration of the Iraqiya bloc and the likelihood that the next election will be an intra-communal competition, Sadr and Maliki will compete to win the largest number of Shiite votes, despite the fact that they have different constituencies. Sadr’s support is concentrated in the poor and densely populated Shiite areas, while Maliki has succeeded in securing the support of a large segment of the military, state workers and a considerable segment of the Shiite middle class, in addition to the tribal support that he gained by co-opting some tribal leaders in the south.
    However, this difference in support bases may be a reason for the intensification of the conflict between them. Unlike the Supreme Islamic Council, which is the third major Shiite force and which seems more cautious in its confrontation with Maliki, Sadr’s largely fortified constituency could secure enough votes to make him the kingmaker after the election. Sadr’s explicit opposition of Maliki’s attempts to secure a third term has made him a potential target in the premier’s survival tactics. 
    Among the first manifestations of the early electoral conflict between the two sides was a Nov. 2 statement by Sadr criticizing Maliki’s recent visit to Washington as an attempt to win US support to remain at his post. Maliki’s office responded on Nov. 4 in an unusually harsh statement that accused Sadr’s militia of having been involved in the sectarian killings in Iraq during the past years and of collaborating with external powers against the Iraqi government. The statement threatened a harsh reprisal in the future should Sadr not change his behavior.
    Later that month, Maliki ordered the arrest of a group belonging to Sadr’s Mahdi Army, which held a military parade in Diyala. Maliki’s move looked like another message that he would not be lenient with the Sadrists, but did not lead to a confrontation between the two sides because Sadr himself had denounced the group's actions and supported Maliki’s decision to arrest its members.
    The significant step in that confrontation came with the issuance of two arrest warrants and one summons for three Sadrist parliament members on corruption charges. It was noteworthy that the three lawmakers are fierce critics of the Iraqi government and the prime minister’s policies.



    Those dependent upon western media may be scratching their heads over the above events.  Dropping back to the November 4th snapshot:


    The Iraq Times reports Nouri launched an unprecdented attack on Moqtada today declaring that he's trying to destroy the country, that he knows ("very well knows") who is carrying out the killings and sectarian warfare in Iraq.  All Iraq News adds that Nouri accused Moqtada of joining foreign countries in plotting against Iraq.  Alsumaria notes that Sadr MP Hossein Sharifi responded that Nouri enjoys hurling accusations at rivals to deflect from Nouri's own failures in leadership.


    Nouri al-Maliki: They also remember the honorable Iraqis who firmly and strongly confronted the terrorists particularly al - Qaeda and they also remember the control of Moqtada’s militia that fostered murder, kidnapping and theft in Basra, Karbala, Baghdad and other provinces .



    Wasn't that cute of Nouri to bring up militias and to target Moqtada with militia smears.   Neither should happen. As Tim Arango (New York Times) reported last September, Nouri has armed Shi'ite militias to kill Sunnis in Iraq:



    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.

    That group he's backing?  A rival of Moqtada al-Sadr's.



    That's the attack Nouri launched, let's move over to the arrest warrants.  From Monday's snapshot:

    Let's stay with political news out of Iraq.  All Iraq News reports today that arrest warrants have been issued against two members of Moqtada al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc -- MP Jawad al-Shihaili and Baha al-Araji.  al-Araji is charged with "damaging general properties" and al-Shihaili is charged with "stealing state's revenues." These warrants come only after Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports MPs are accusing Nouri al-Maliki of misuse of state resources on his recent trip to Basra -- including, Moqtada's bloc pointed out, Nouri offering up land plots.  MPs see the visit as typical Nouri trying to bribe for votes but the difference this time is that a law's been passed to make this illegal.


    Tuesday, NINA reported:


    A member of the Parliamentary Committee on Integrity, MP for the Ahrar bloc Jawad al-Shayli accused the Dawa Party behind the arrest warrant issued against him.
    He said, at a news conference in the House of Representatives today that the judiciary issued an arrest warrant against him and MP Jawad Hasnawi and a memorandum of bringing against the head’sbloc Bahaa al-Araji , accusing the Dawa Party of being behind it , with the aim of political targeting, comparing the work of the Dawa Party, now with Baath Party.
    He added : "The warrant relating to charges in accordance with Article 316 of embezzlement of state funds , which means the money of the medical treatment, which he took from the House of Representatives ."
    He said : "The MP, of the State of law, Khalid al-Attiyah took four times this expense ," wondering : "Why did not issue an arrest warrant against Al-Attiyah, and many MPs of state of law ," adding : "The aim of these warrants is political targeting ."



    Dar Addustour reported yesterday that a judiciary source states the call for the arrests came personally from Nouri.

    State of Law MP Ali Shala is trying very hard to spin for Nouri.  Sadly for Nouri, Shala doesn't know how to spin.  Rudaw reports:


    Shala insisted that rumors about Maliki’s pursuit of a third term and securing Tehran’s support are baseless. “These are all propaganda and only the ballot boxes can decide on the next prime minister, not the neighboring countries,” he said.
     Iran, Iraq’s eastern neighbor, is a major power-broker in Iraq, exercising great influence through Sadr and other Shiite parties it supports. 
    [. . .] the State of Law official said that the National Alliance, a broad-based Shiite coalition comprising Sadrists, the Iraqi Supreme Islamic Council and State of Law, would re-nominate Maliki for a third tenure.

    Rumors of a third term are baseless?  But Shala says that Nouri's going to be nominated for a third term?

    Okay, is the the third term attempt baseless or not?

    At least there were no prominent defections from State of Law today, right?

    Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki got some more bad news:


    State of Law is the coalition Nouri created.  Today it's the coalition with a high profile defection.  Iraq Times notes that State of Law's leader in Parliament, Izzat al-Shahbandar, is the topic of speculation with rumors flying that he had resigned from State of Law.  Alsumaria then reported that they could confirm the resignation via multiple sources.  Hours later, All Iraq News noted Izzat al-Shahbander had publicly announced his resignation and declared, "The SLC [State of Law Coalition] turned into a sectarian coalition." All Iraq News also noted that al-Shahbander met with cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr on Tuesday.  Kitabat quotes him stating that Nouri's positions and actions do not reflect his own beliefs and he cites Nouri's refusal to work with political opponents or to respect the ongoing sit-ins.
    This is a major blow to Nouri.  It's a loss at a time when Nouri's personal prestige was already on the decline.  It's a loss that al-Shahbander and Moqtada can spin as 'the building of a new Iraq.' The two were at odds for some time.  In fact, in 2011, the Sadr bloc was accusing al-Shahbander (and other State of Law MPs -- but they specifically named al-Shahbander) of procuring women for Nouri in the Green Zone. Now that can be put behind them, is the message, and the unity and good of Iraq can instead be embraced.



    Mustafa Habib (Niqash) reports on the disintegration of Nouri's hold on State of Law:


    As political parties prepare for upcoming general elections, some very important alliances are falling apart. Shiite Muslim parties allied in the current governing coalition led by PM Nouri-al-Maliki say they will campaign alone - and they won’t promise al-Maliki another term. Amid a surge in sectarian violence, could the country finally be entering a post-sectarian political era?  


    Prominent Shiite Muslim politicians in Baghdad have confessed that there is one major reason why the previously strong alliance of Shiite Muslim parties is breaking up. This alliance was what allowed current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to form his ruling coalition, the State of Law bloc. But now, as political parties start negotiating partnerships and jockeying for position ahead of the upcoming general elections, scheduled for April 2014, the formerly strong Shiite Muslim alliances have fallen apart.


    A special meeting was held in Baghdad on Nov. 18 at which all member parties of al-Maliki’s alliance were present. A statement was issued afterwards declaring, “Shiite Muslim parties are enthusiastic about competing in the coming elections together”. But this seems to have been spin: The reality on the ground is very different.


    “The State of Law bloc has asked that all other parties that want to enter into an alliance with it agree ahead of elections that if they win, the future Prime Minister will come from the Dawa party and that that party will not nominate anyone other than Nouri al-Maliki,” a senior politician, who did not want to be named, told NIQASH. “This is why the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and the Sadrist bloc are avoiding any such alliance.”


    The strongest Shiite Muslim parties in Iraq are al-Maliki’s Dawa party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, or ISCI, headed by cleric Ammar al-Hakim and the Sadrist bloc, headed by another cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. There are also other minor Shiite Muslim parties such as the National Reform Trend headed by former Prime Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, and the Islamic Virtue Party, or Fadhila, headed by controversial Najaf-based cleric, Mohammed Musa al-Yaqoubi.



    Both the Sadrist bloc and the ISCI seem firm about their intentions not to enter into an alliance with al-Maliki’s party again. Both al-Hakim and al-Sadr have been critical of al-Maliki’s government, with al-Sadr being very harsh, very publicly and al-Hakim tending to be quietly critical. 

    Hamza Mustafa (Asharq al-Awsat) reports:


    In exclusive comments to Asharq Al-Awsat, Hasnawi said: “There has been a political targeting of the Sadrist Movement and the Al-Ahrar bloc, particularly given that we are approaching the elections. The reason for this is to politically destroy opponents and harm their reputations, especially as the Al-Ahrar bloc is more active than others in raising corruption issues.”
    “These are part of vengeful attempts against us which have become obvious to all,” he added.
    Hasnawi accused Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki of being behind the issuance of the arrest warrants. He said: “The arrest warrants are dated and these cases have been closed for a long time. There is not a single one which is related to a new case, but there are judges who work as protectors for the prime minister who issue arrest warrants according to Maliki’s demands.”
    “The arrest warrant against Baha Al-Araji is related to the Red Crescent issue, which was closed in 2008, and the warrant against Jawad Al-Shahili is related to the issue of MPs’ loans and he provided parliament with receipts,” the Sadrist Movement MP added.

    He also accused MPs belonging to Maliki’s own State of Law coalition of corruption. He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “All these accusations are being made while there are still some State of Law Coalition MPs, such as Khalid Al-Attiyah, who spent much more on medical treatment and have not provided any official receipts.”















     



    The unrealized campaign promise

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    U.S. President Barack Obama just cannot live up this 2008 image.  Fred Mazelis (WSWS) reports:
          
    A spokesman for the US military announced this week that the authorities will no longer provide public information on how many prisoners at the American gulag at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are participating in hunger strikes to protest their indefinite detention.

    A report by the Associated Press cited an email from Navy Commander John Filostrat, speaking for the Joint Task Force Command Guantanamo.

    “JTF-Guantanamo allows detainees to peacefully protest, but will not further their protests by reporting the numbers to the public,” Filostrat said. “The release of this information serves no operational purpose and detracts from the more important issues, which are the welfare of detainees and the safety and security of our troops.”

    The latest policy and its Orwellian defense (“the welfare of the detainees!”) are in some ways the logical extension of the longstanding practice of brutal force-feeding of hunger striking prisoners, in which a nasogastric feeding tube is forced into their stomachs, causing great pain. The practice has been widely denounced as a form of torture (See Worldwide outrage as Guantanamo hunger strike enters fourth month)

    The American military had earlier concluded that force-feeding was necessary because it feared that deaths caused by the protests would focus greater worldwide attention on the inhuman conditions at Guantanamo, as well as the by now well-known fact that the vast majority of the detainees are guilty of nothing, even by the legally dubious standards of the US “war on terror.”

    Apparently the US government has now decided that it would be even more effective to pretend that the remaining 162 prisoners at Guantanamo do not exist.


    Remember when 2008 candidate Barack Obama called Guantanamo a stain on democracy and promised to close it down?

    Never happened, did it?

    Now he just wants to close down any press coverage of it.



    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    Friday, December 6, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, bombs and shootings in the capital (while the western press dozes), protests throughout Iraq just two weeks short of the one-year-mark but the western press can't cover it, another reporter killed in Iraq, we note Jane Arraf's time at CNN (not a pretty picture for journalism), the world mourns the passing of Nelson Mandela, and more.


    What the western media refused to cover today?


    Falluja.





  • Tikrit.


    الغائب على الشيخ في ساحة اعتصام . .




    Samarra.

    الموحدة في مدينة . .





    Ramadi.



    الموحدة في ساحة العزة والكرامة بمدينة في محافظة . .




    Iraqi Spring MC continues to do their job.  Western outlets can't say the same.


    Today's protests are part of a series of continuous protests which have been ongoing since December 21st.  They are soon to hit the one year mark.  National Iraqi News Agency quotes Sheikh Mohammed Fayyad stating, "The citizens participated in the prayers that held in the courtyard northern Ramadi and eastern Fallujah cities , stressing that the goal of this trickle is to send one again a message to the governing in Baghdad that our demonstrations are peaceful and backed by citizens deep conviction."


    Instead of coverage from western outlets and 'reporters,' we get crap like this:


  • would you say Kirk that the protests in Anbar have now been practically decimated? No longer effective or worrisome?
  • They were weakening for months, but Mutahidun's decision to abandon them just recognizes & accelerates this decline.
  • They hit a peak in late April/early May, but lost momentum some time ago.



  • Thanks, Kirk, for the ignorance.


    Sowell's never grasped the protests, misrepresented them to the clueless Joel Wing (who didn't correct him because he's so stupid himself -- and Joel, don't e-mail me, I don't want to hear from you or your foul mouth, go back your insane friend again -- the one who claimed the whole world was after him, back that lunatic some more). Sowell can't note the rape and torture of women in detention centers and prisons.



    But, check the archives, when those reports first emerged and before the protest broke out on December 21st, we noted they would lead to protests, that it is the sort of thing that provides urgency and meaning to opposition.  It was, it did.  And it was completely non-surprising -- except to the press.


    Maybe it's past time that courses on revolution, resistance and rebellion weren't elective poli sci classes at US colleges (as they were when I took them) but required ones and that they were downgraded from graduate course work to undergraduate?


    NINA notes an Anah sticky bombing left police Colonel Faris Karbouli injured, and a Dor suicide bomber took his own life and that of 5 police officers with eleven more people injured.  All Iraq News adds that Mohammed Jasim, employee with the Ministry of Industry, was shot dead in Baghdad, 2 Baghdad bombings left 1 person dead and fifteen injured, a Salman Bek bombing left two members of an Iraqi soldier's family injured, and a Tikrit bombing claimed the life of 1 Sahwa and left three more injured.

    If you're not getting how little Iraq is covered by western media, try to find those incidents of violence reported -- especially in western, English language media.  Did AP or Reuters even file from Iraq today?


    AFP reports Kawa Ahmed Germyani is the latest journalist to be killed in Iraq.  Last night, the editor or Rayal magazine and a reporter with Awene newspaper was shot dead "in front of his mother at his home in the town of Kalar." Reporters Without Borders issued a statement which includes:


    “We are appalled by Germyani’s murder and offer our heartfelt condolences to his family and colleagues,” Reporters Without Borders said.
    “A professional journalist who covered corruption and nepotism in Iraqi Kurdistan, Germyani knew he was in danger and had told the region’s authorities about the threats he had received. His murder could have been avoided if they had taken the necessary measures to protect him.
    “We are worried about the very dangerous climate for journalists both in Iraqi Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq, and about the impunity enjoyed by their attackers and killers. We urge the regional and national authorities to take the appropriate measures so that journalists can work without fearing for their safety or their lives.”
    Reporters Without Borders added: “Both the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan and the central government in Baghdad should be conducting thorough investigations into the murders of journalists and the groups that target them.”
    According to the information obtained by Reporters Without Borders, Germyani had been threatened for years in connection with his revelations about corruption within Kurdish institutions and had initiated several judicial proceedings against those responsible these threats.

    Coincidentally, many Kurdish journalists and civil society representatives had gathered in Sulaymaniyah two days before his murder to press the regional and national authorities to adopt laws guaranteeing media freedom, as well as effective measures to protect journalists and combat impunity for those responsible for violence against them.


    Kurdish MP Mahmoud Othman Tweeted the following:


  • I strongly condemn the killing of Kawa Germeyani who was shot dead in Kelar, more should be done to protect journalists in



  • On Tweets, we'll note this one but we've got a lot more to fit in.








  • Let's turn to politics.



    image

           As part of an invitation to all Iraqi citizens to update their data in the voter registration centers (VRCs) and the great attention given by the religious leaders and the Iraqi leadership, his eminence Mr. Muqtada al Sader had visited on 12 November the VRC no. 1643 in Najaf province to make sure of the accuracy of his data in the voter lists.

            Mr. al Sader praised role of the IHEC in establishing rules of the democratic system in Iraq.

           In his turn, the Director General of Najaf electoral Office, Mr. Saad al Abdali called on all citizens to review the VRCs to update their data to ensure to cast their ballots in the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections scheduled on 30 April 2014. 



    Moqtada al-Sadr is a cleric and movement leader.  The Independent High Electoral Commission issued the above on December 3rd.  Voter updating/registration was supposed to end December 5th.  The IHEC has extended it to December 10th and states there will not be another extension. Parliamentary elections are supposed to take place April 30th.   Rudaw reports:


    In what appears to be an attempt to win allies in next year’s parliamentary elections, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has helped Fayli Kurds in Baghdad set up a new political group. 
     According to Ali Fayli, a community leader in Baghdad, the new group -- called the Peace Organization for Fayli Kurds -- is expected to run in next April’s legislative elections. Fayli told Rudaw that Haydar Isa Ali, a Fayli political figure, is to head the new organization, which has already registered with the Election Commission. 
    The Iraqi capital is home to nearly a million Fayli Kurds, who are Kurdish by ethnicity but Shiites by faith. Most Kurds are Sunnis. 
     Maliki, who is also Shiite, has often attended Fayli cultural and religious events. Meanwhile, the Kurdish parties in the north, who have offices in Baghdad, have also tried to win favor with the Faylis.

    All Iraq News reports on the statements by Kurdistani Alliance MP Hameed Bafi:

    In a press statement received by AIN, he said "Personally, I think that the government failed in providing the services and sustaining security in Iraq and there is no chance to Maliki to get a third term as the Prime Minister of Iraq."
    "Despite the sympathy of the Iraqi people towards Iran during the current time and due to the sanctions that it faces from the international community, the Iraqis want the decision to be theirs and not made by foreign sides," he added, noting that "Maliki headed to Iran to get its support for the nomination for a third term as the PM after his failure in convincing the USA to get its support for the same issue."



    As so much silence surrounds what takes place in Iraq -- so much western media silence -- let's move to the topic of reporting.   Saturday, Aswat al-Iraq reported:

    Press Freedoms Observatory reported that the Iraqi police are "pressing" journalists to "sign written pledges not to practice their field work", as well as detaining them for hours in Najaf and Missan cities. 
     Baghdadiya correspondent in Najaf Rasha al-Abidi said to the Observatory that she "suffered reactions by the people when covering the latest floods in the city". 
     She added that one of police officers demanded her to sign a written pledge not to work in journalism "for good" in order to release her, but she refused till some personalities interfered for her release, while her camera was kept with the security force.


    These are Nouri's forces and this is what they're doing to journalists -- on Nouri's orders.

    Nouri doesn't want reality conveyed.  He wants to shut down the press -- especially now as he's seeking a third term.

    And instead of joining the Iraqi press in a fight for truth, the world press leaves them alone, leaves them stranded.

    And at a time like this, you'll see people reveal their true natures -- not meaning to, but they just can't help themselves -- Freud noted the criminal's compulsion to confess and it must be something similar for 'journalists' who don't report.   US 'journalist' in Iraq Jane Arraf re-Tweets the following from her former boss (at CNN) Eason Jordan.



    1. In 1990, televised live worldwide 's release from prison... long before other TV news nets existed.


    Oh, you big brave men -- I mean Eason and Jane.  Eason and Iraq?  I believe he's best known for what CNN didn't broadcast.  If you're new to that topic, check out his self-justifying and minimizing column for the New York Times "The News We Kept To Ourselves." It was published April 11, 2003 -- after the start of the Iraq War and revealed that for "the last dozen years," CNN hadn't really 'reported' from Iraq.  Out of fear, you understand.  And if they learned Saddam Hussein or his sons planned to assassinate someone -- they kept it to themselves.  Except to warn the monarchy in Jordan.


    For that, they broke their stay silent rule for.  Of course, the monarchy has its own security and its own intelligence agency so they greeted CNN's 'tip' as what it really was -- an attempt by a press outlet to suck up.

    Eason was over Jane's 'reporting' -- isn't it time she got honest herself?

    When Eason's column was published, Margaret Wente (Canada's Globe and Mail) offered a response which included:


    Last week, I learned there was a children's prison in Baghdad where they locked up the kids of parents deemed disloyal to the regime.
    I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. As more and more information emerges about Saddam Hussein's Iraq, we're learning how awful it really was. Still, I was stunned. What kind of regime locks up and tortures children?
    [. . .]
    Some of the major media knew, too. In a stunning piece called The News We Kept to Ourselves, published last Friday in The New York Times, CNN news chief Eason Jordan reveals that the network never did come clean on everything it knew about Iraq. It never told its viewers that local CNN employees were abducted and tortured. It never passed along what Mr. Jordan learned on some of the 13 trips he made to Baghdad to schmooze with the regime in exchange for reporters' visas. On one trip, Saddam's son Uday told him he planned to kill his two brothers-in-law (he did). On other trips, Iraqi officials told Mr. Jordan Saddam was a maniac who had to be removed.
    "I felt awful having these stories bottled up inside me," he confessed. But he says CNN had to keep quiet in order to protect its employees.

    The way others see it, CNN had to keep quiet in order to protect its access. In their view, CNN soft-pedalled the horrors of the regime so it could keep broadcasting from Iraq. In this, it was not alone. That's the usual quid pro quo for reporting on dictators, and Iraq was unusually vigilant in the way it kept tabs on the media. Every foreign journalist was tended by an official minder; if the regime didn't like their stories, they were kicked out.


    Jane Arraf certainly internalized that policy (she was CNN's Baghdad bureau chief under Eason Jordan)  -- which explains why she writes nothing critical of Nouri today and why she ignores the violence in Iraq, and the journalists who are killed in Iraq.  She's the happy musings 'journalist' based in Iraq.  Former CNN journalist Peter Collins responded to Eason Jordan's 2003 column with one of his own entitled "Corruption at CNN" (Washington Times) and here he talks about CNN's efforts to 'get' a sit-down interview with Saddam Hussein:


    I took part in meetings between the CNN executives and various officials purported to be close to Saddam. We met with his personal translator; with a foreign affairs adviser; with Information Minister Latif Jassim; and with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.
    In each of these meetings, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jordan made their pitch: Saddam Hussein would have an hour's time on CNN's worldwide network; there would be no interruptions, no commercials. I was astonished. From both the tone and the content of these conversations, it seemed to me that CNN was virtually groveling for the interview.
    The day after one such meeting, I was on the roof of the Ministry of Information, preparing for my first "live shot" on CNN. A producer came up and handed me a sheet of paper with handwritten notes. "Tom Johnson wants you to read this on camera," he said. I glanced at the paper. It was an item-by-item summary of points made by Information Minister Latif Jassim in an interview that morning with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jordan.
    The list was so long that there was no time during the live shot to provide context. I read the information minister's points verbatim. Moments later, I was downstairs in the newsroom on the first floor of the Information Ministry. Mr. Johnson approached, having seen my performance on a TV monitor. "You were a bit flat there, Peter," he said. Again, I was astonished. The president of CNN was telling me I seemed less-than-enthusiastic reading Saddam Hussein's propaganda.

    As Jane stays silent on one thing after another in her 'reports' for Al Jazeera and the Christian Science Monitor, grasp that the above passed for 'ethics' when she was at CNN.


    Iraq Times notes the passing of Nelson Mandela, how 1961 saw Nelson Mandela organize the armed revolution against apartheid and how he was arrested in 1963 and, while in prison for the next 27 years, managed to lead the revolution.  Released from prison in 1990 (due to international outcry and support), Nelson Mandela would win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and be elected President of South Africa in 1995.  Singer, songwriter, dancer, fashion icon Jody Watley notes Mandela here.  Kim Petersen (Dissident Voice) remembers Mandela here and offers praise for Mandela for standing up for the Palestinian people and criticism for him embracing the Canadian government which practices -- to this day -- its own form of apartheid with tegards to Turtle Island's Indigenous people.  Palestine pops up in many left pieces.  We'll note Ireland in a bit because Mandela felt a natural affinity with the people and the country due to its own similar struggles.  (South Africa and Ireland were both the victims of colonialism.)  Jonathan Cook (CounterPunch) shares his disappointment of Mandela during his post-prison life.  Marcia critiqued NPR's reducing Nelson Mandela to a supporting player  "Maybe if NPR wasn't so White . . .," and, in "The Disneyfication of a proud Black leader," Betty took on the trend of the US media to reduce Nelson Mandela's power and strength:


    I'm real sick of seeing this proud Black leader Disneyfied.
    I'm sick of it and it saddens me.
    Nelson Mandela was an epic, he changed the world.
    They want to turn him into Jiminy Crickett.



    Russia Today reminds that Mandela was an outspoken opponent of the illegal war on Iraq:

    Prior to the US invasion of Iraq, Mandela slammed the actions of the US at a speech made at the International Women’s Forum in Johannesburg, declaring that former President George W. Bush’s primary motive was ‘oil’, while adding that Bush was undermining the UN.
    “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care for human beings,” Mandela said. 
    Mandela did not hold back from making hard-hitting statements against the US, and repeatedly spoke out against the prospect of the country invading Iraq. As the US prepared its mass-action in 2002, Mandela told Newsweek:
    “If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace.”


    Independent journalist Rania Khalek Tweets:


                  




    In 2003, Jarrett Murphy (CBS News) reported:

    Mandela, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and one of the world's most respected elder statesmen, let the Bush administration have it right between the eyes, reports CBS News Correspondent Tom Fenton.
    "It is a tragedy, what is happening, what Bush is doing. But Bush is now undermining the United Nations," Mandela told the International Women's Forum.
    Mandela said he would support action against Iraq only if it is ordered by the U.N. He urged the people of the United States to join massive protests against Mr. Bush and called on world leaders, especially those with vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, to oppose him.
    "What I am condemning is that one power, with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust."

    Those remarks were made in Johannesburg, South Africa at the International Women's Forum.  CNN reported:

     The Bush administration is threatening military action if Iraq does not account for weapons of mass destruction and fully cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors.
    Receiving applause for his comments, Mandela said Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are "undermining" past work of the United Nations.
    "They do not care. Is it because the secretary-general of the United Nations is now a black man?" said Mandela, referring to Kofi Annan, who is from Ghana. 

    He did not speak out only once and he did not stop speaking out once the illegal war started.  Ireland's NUI Galway conferred an honorary doctorate on Mandela and, at the June 20, 2003 ceremony, he again spoke out against the Iraq War.   Lorna Siggins (Irish Times)  quotes Mandela concluding, "All of us must have the courage to stand up and condemn what is wrong, and I am grateful that you have allowed an old man, who is more than 100 years old, to come and address you." Louise Hogan (Irish Independent) and theIrish Mirrornote Mandela's warm relationship with Ireland.  The president of the National University of Ireland Galway, Dr. Jim Browne, issued a statement on Mandela's passing which includes:

    Nelson Mandela was - and will remain -one of the most highly respected statesmen in history.  His capacity to endure political persecution and imprisonment and, most remarkably, to move beyond personal injustice to become the embodiment of reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa has made him a lasting and powerful global symbol of goodness and integrity.

    Last night, Tavis Smiley devoted his program (The Tavis Smiley Show, PBS)  to Mandela's life and meaning. speaking with singer and activist Harry Belafonte, journalist Larry King, and US House Rep Maxine Waters.  Click here for the video and/or transcript.  Excerpts.


    Tavis: It’s one thing to work alongside Dr. King as you did so courageously, but with regard to Mandela, for 27 years, certainly, he was behind bars. What do you recall most principally about working alongside one of the stalwart leaders of this movement to end apartheid when he himself for most of that time was behind bars?

    Belafonte: It was a very touching and a very exciting and rewarding experience. Often, I went to visit a man by the name of Oliver Tambo – who had been selected by the leadership of the ANC to lead the ANC during Mandela’s incarceration. So for all intents and purpose, Oliver Tambo was the head of the ANC, was the one that was given the power and the authority to give instructions to the rest of us who were in the service of that cause.
    So that I often heard Mandela’s voice very clearly through the things that Oliver Tambo was doing. It became apparent that we were getting closer and closer to the time when Mandela would be, in all probability, freed.
    Many of us looked on that with a great sense of hope that that would be the case. But I never thought I’d live long enough to see Mandela released from prison. When he was released, I was then instructed by the ANC and by Oliver Tambo to help them prepare for Madiba’s first visit to the United States.
    In that capacity I was able to not only correspond with Winnie Mandela and with Nelson himself through mail, but to also set up the kind of environment that would be most rewarding for his visit to the United States.

    He came here and I was charged with the responsibility of meeting all the demands that were made upon us for Madiba’s visit here.

    And:


    Tavis: I’ve said many times the very first rally I ever went to, very first protest rally, was on Wilshire and La Cienega, at the embassy, when Maxine Waters was leading this fight to bring down apartheid in the California legislature.

    Waters: That’s right.

    Tavis: Remind the nation, the audience tonight, of what was happening in America then and how hard it was – we see Mandela as a hero now, but we were so on the late freight in this country on divesture.
    Waters: That’s right, that’s right. We were late because don’t forget that our country and our public policy didn’t take us to the concerns of Africa, and they didn’t have a voice.
    So the white South Africans were in charge (unintelligible) before De Klerk, they were the spokespersons that our country would listen to. So just as we watch our country not understand some of the indigenous leadership and the opposition leadership to dictatorships and other things over the years, this is true with South Africa.
    It was only after the ANC became very bold, and as you know, they labeled them communists and terrorists and all of that. We got bold and we joined the ANC from here to say that no, this is the liberation movement. But it was hard. Racism prevailed here in the United States.

    Tavis: Larry, I will never forget as long as I live the night – speaking of communism – the night that Nelson Mandela was being interviewed in the town hall by Ted Koppel, and I had never seen Koppel get the business.
    I love Ted Koppel, but Mandela gave him the business that night, and told Koppel, “You do not tell me who my friends are.”

    Waters: “My friends are.”

    Tavis: You don’t tell us -

    King: I never saw that.


    Tavis: Oh, man, it was a moment.


    Those are just two excerpts, there's much more including the final remarks which are Tavis' reflections on Mandela and his meaning.

    Kitabat notes that the people of the world and the media have followed his illness and now his death because he was a source of pride, victory and love.  The news outlet wonders where Iraq's Nelson Mandela is?


























    The ObamaCare con job

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    Kate Randall (W.S.W.S.) continues to report the realities of ObamaCare:


    People shopping for insurance coverage on the exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are discovering that the plans with lower premiums come with high deductibles, large out-of pocket costs for prescription drugs, and other cost-sharing. These costs will undoubtedly mean a reduction in medical services for the insured, who will be discouraged from seeking treatment for themselves and their dependents because they cannot afford the upfront payments.
    Under the health care overhaul commonly known as Obamacare, beginning January 1, 2014, people without insurance through their employer or a government program such as Medicare or Medicaid must obtain insurance or pay a penalty. Until last week, it was very difficult for consumers looking for insurance to even determine the potential out-of-pocket costs for specific plans.
    But last week federal officials added a “window shopping” feature on the HealthCare.gov site that displays data on deductibles. As independent surveys of the plans have previously revealed, deductibles on policies offered on the federal and many state exchanges are often as high as $5,000 for an individual and $10,000 for a couple. This means that the insured must pay these amounts out-of-pocket before any insurance coverage kicks in.
    According to HealthPocket Inc., which compares health insurance plans for consumers, the average individual deductible for the lower-priced bronze plans is $5,081 a year for an individual in 34 of the 36 states that rely on the federally run health exchanges. This is 42 percent higher than the average deductible of $3,589 for an individually purchased plan in 2013.
    White House officials are in the midst of a public relations blitz to boost the ACA after the technical debacle at HealthCare.gov following its October 1 launch. They have chosen to emphasize the supposed “affordability” of insurance available through Obamacare. They have deliberately made little comment on the exorbitant out-of-pocket costs that await the millions of consumers who are being mandated to purchase coverage from private insurers on the exchanges.


    Did you know that was coming?

    I am not effected, I am an elderly woman on Medicare.

    But for those not as fortunate as me?

    I really feel for you.

    I was reading about how 80 million will lose their insurance by the end of 2014.

    The website is the least of the problems for ObamaCare.  This unpopular program is only going to grow more unpopular.

    That is what happens when you trick the people.

    It comes back to bite you in the ass.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    Monday, December 9, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri's two terms as prime minister have accomplished nothing for Iraq, but his son has profited, we explore when a State of Law defection is not a 'defection,' Ahmed Chalabi thinks he knows who should be Iraq's next president, questions continue to swirl around Iraq's current or 'current' president, and more.


    All Iraq News reports that Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, has declared that the security situation in Iraq has grown worse due to the fact that, "Some officials have assumed some security key posts by paying bribes which resulted in disturbing the security situation." It's difficult to see the comment as anything but a criticism of Nouri al-Maliki, chief thug and prime minister of Iraq, since Nouri is not only prime minister but the head of all security ministries as a result of his power grab and refusal to obey the Constitution.

    Regardless of whether bribes were involved or not, when you've made yourself  Minister of Defense (military) and Minister of Interior (police), you've made yourself responsible for any increase in violence.  So the 309 violent deaths for the month so far?  That would be on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, on Minister of Defense Nouri al-Maliki and on Minister of Interior Nouri al-Maliki.



    December 4th, Nouri suffered a high profile defection from his State of Law coalition as the head of SoL in Parliament, MP Izzat al-Shahbandar, announced his resignation and declared Nouri had turned SoL "into a sectarian coalition." State of Law finally found a response today.  All Iraq News reports MP Maryam al-Rayis offered that State of Law was used to "politician who always change their political stances and relase contradicted statements." Of course they got used to it -- Nouri's the head of State of Law.  Meanwhile Alsumaria reports that MP Sami al-Askari is going to great pains to insist that he has not also left State of Law.  He states he and Nouri remain tight, their relationship is "good" and he's not leaving State of Law.  Yes, he's formed State of Loyal, a group to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections.  Yes, that means he is not running for re-election as part of State of Law.  But that doesn't mean, he insists, that he's left or deserted State of Law.  Again, not running with them, created new group to stand apart from them, but -- he insists -- this departure should not be seen as a departure.  Apparently, like Ross with Rachel, they are on a break.


    The Kurdish Globe reports:


    At least 2, 461 people have participated in an opinion poll which launched by Kurdistan Institution for Political Affairs. The poll contained different questions to evaluate the performance of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi institutions.
    The participants took part across the Kurdistan Region?s cities. They were from different social class models.
    The result of the poll shows that around 70 percent of the Kurdish people have no confidence in the Iraqi federal government.
    At least 77 percent of the voters said that they have confidence in Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani.




    In September, the three provinces in the Kurdistan Regional Government (northern Iraq's semi-autonomous region) held provincial elections and, in  "The KRG elections" at Third, Jim and I discussed those elections:


    Jim: Right.  But to me the more interesting thing was the KDP's success.


    C.I.: Why is that?

    Jim: The press has said repeatedly that Massoud Barzani has overstepped his bounds, that he's unpopular, etc.  And you've argued differently for two years now.  If you were wrong, KDP wouldn't be in the lead.


    C.I.: I don't know where the nonsense on Barzani got started.  He's very popular.  The press has always insisted that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is popular. He's also a Kurd -- like Barzani -- and he heads what had been the other dominant party, the Patriotic Union Kurdistan.


    Jim: That's right.  Going into this election, it was a two party race.  The PUK and the KDP were the dominant political parties in the KRG -- like the Democrats and the Republicans in the US.  With the results of Saturday's elections, that has now changed.


    C.I.: Right.  Gorran is now one of the two dominant parties.



    Jim: But back to Barzani.  The press, Joel Wing and so many others kept insisting that Barzani was passe, over, loathed, etc.  But his party got the most votes.


    C.I.: Well, first of all, he's the head of the party.  Voters voted for the party.  I don't know that you can extrapolate that he's very popular just from the results of this election.  But I do think that if he was as unpopular as many in the press have tried to pretend.  If he were, I would argue, he would have dragged the KDP down and they would not have won the most votes.


    FYI, Joel Wing got his panties in a wad over Jim's remarks and then got his panties in a tighter wad when Jim referred Joel to Joel's own writing that backed Jim up. To be clear, no one needs to hear from Joel in an e-mail.  There are many that Jim's ignoring because when you say, "You wrote it here" and provide a link, the next e-mail from Joel needs to "My bad, my mistake" not more crazy justifying rants.  Again, no one needs an e-mail from Joel.

    The poll demonstrates the popularity of Barzani.  Those who spent the bulk of 2012 and 2013 insisting Barzani was unpopular -- with no evidence to back it up -- might need to recalibrate.  We'll come back to Barzani.  The 70% that lack confidence in Nouri's government?

    The Kurds have many issues with the federal government including who has the right to claim Kirkuk, federal monies and control of their region's own oil.  These are issues that Iraqis in the other 14 provinces (let's ignore Kirkuk Province since Nouri has) don't have.  So you could argue Nouri's popularity could be much higher in the 14 provinces.  But it's also true that being semi-autonomous means the Kurds are far less wrapped up in Nouri's daily failures.  So disapproval of Nouri's government in the fourteen other provinces could be high -- even if not as high as 70%.

    I'd argue it is high.  2010 revealed strong disappointment with Nouri al-Maliki as evidenced by the votes in the 2010 parliamentary election which Nouri's State of Law lost.

    What's taken place since 2010?

    For one thing, violence has increased.  Dramatically.  The Iraqi people are surely not pleased about that and no doubt blame Nouri as well as the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Interior and . . .  Oops.  Back in July 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support." Those positions were supposed to be filled -- per the Constitution -- by the end of December 2010.  Three years later and they still aren't.  Because Nouri wanted to make a power grab and steal those positions -- which he did.  He is the Minister of the Interior (police) and the Minister of Defense (military).  So he is completely and 100% responsible for the security and he has failed.

    Paul Crompton (Al Arabiya News) reports today:

    Iraq’s fragile government is not doing enough to support foreign investment and businesses, which face an ongoing battle against corruption and bureaucracy, experts say.

    The World Bank’s annual Doing Business Report, which measures business regulations worldwide, put Iraq near the bottom of the list in their 2012 report, just three spaces above Afghanistan.

    Yes, there's the issue of corruption.  Iraq remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world.  In 2012, Transparency International ranked 177 countries, the higher up the list, the more transparent and less corrupt you were.  In 2012, out of 177 countries, Iraq came in at 169 -- 168 countries in the world were more transparent than Iraq.  This month, Transparency International released their latest rankings.  You might think nothing could be worse for Iraq than being 168 on a list of transparent countries.  You would be wrong.  It has now fallen to 171 out of 177.  Only six countries in the world are considered more corrupt than Iraq (Libya, South Sudan, Sudan, Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia).  Corruption just gets worse in Iraq.

    Those with longer memories may remember the early 2011 protests in Iraq -- taking place while the media focused on Egypt and other countries.  Nouri, fearing that he would be overthrown by the Iraqi people, announced he would not seek a third term.  He's now going for a third term -- his word is meaningless -- and just visited Iran to get the support of officials there.  Cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr has stated Iraq does not need a third term of Nouri.  Aswat al-Iraq reported Saturday that Iraqiya weighed in, "In a statement today, the bloc pointed out that Iraq lived for eight years in a state where political visions are absent and bad deteriorated security condition, in addition to corruption."


    In early 2011, Nouri promised not to seek a third term and he promised that if the people would give him 100 days he would end the corruption.  He was never going to end the corruption -- he's part of the corruption.  He's stealing money from the government -- from the Iraqi people, it's their money.  He lived in near poverty when he lobbied the US government to invade Iraq back in those years when he fled Iraq.


    Yet now, he and his family are rolling in the dough.  As noted at CNN  last year:


    Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party’s official newspaper, Khebat, revealed that Nouri Maliki’s son has expensed over $150 million of the Iraqi people’s assets purchasing castles and hotels in foreign countries. The newspaper wrote quoting a source: After his father became Chairman of the Dawa Party, Ahmed Nouri al-Maliki purchased the Marry Anderson Castle in London for a price of £40 million. In addition, he purchased the Seyedeh Zainab Ambassador Hotel in Damascus at a price of $35 million, and is now purchasing the Ajmon Ambassador Hotel at a price of $75 million.
    The source added that Ahmed Nouri al-Maliki has purchased an 85 thousand square meter land in front of the Zainab Hotel for $52 million.
    Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party’s official newspaper, Khebat, added: Iraqis who live with power outages and no public services, and while a day doesn’t go by that a number of people don’t lose their lives as a result of explosions, ask the Maliki government: Where does Maliki’s son bring all this money from?



    When a video posted to YouTube exposed the lavish lifestyle Ahmed was living in London, YouTube was ordered to take it down by the government of Iraq.  And being the cowards that they are, YouTube did remove the video.  And it's description.

    Fortunately, we'd noted the video and its description prior to that so we can still include the description that Nouri's government demanded YouTube censor:


    In this short video, Ahmed, the gangster son of one of the world's most corrupt leaders Nuri Al-Maliki, drives his Ferrari around central London, while he was on a �200 million property spending spree with Iraq's money. Ahmed was of course cleared of all charges in a huge corruption case involving Iraqi Government procurement of Russian arms in 2012. 
    Nuri Al-Maliki is known to own numerous several properties and a hotel in the UK, and has long been rumoured to be planning to live here when his time as the chief bribe taker in Iraq is over.
    He also owns the Seyedeh Zainab Ambassador hotel in Damascus.
    London is the natural home of blood soaked African warlords, Russian gangsters/Oligarchs, and of corrupt Middle Eastern despots, and their offspring.
    Iraqi puppet leader Nuri Al-Maliki's gangster son Ahmed is spending the Iraqi people's money very wisely
    Iraqi puppet leader Nuri Al-Maliki's gangster son Ahmed is spending the Iraqi people's money very wisely
    Iraqi puppet leader Nuri Al-Maliki's gangster son Ahmed is spending the Iraqi people's money very wisely
    Iraq,Corruption,Bribery,,London,London,C­ity of,United Kingdom (UK/GB)


    You need to ask yourself how Nouri's son can afford a Ferrari, let alone all the other stuff.  Nouri  was a pauper in exile.  He was the outside of Iraq 'head' of Iraq's Dawa political party but that wasn't a money making position.  Dawa's efforts were focused on overthrowing Saddam Hussein.  That's where the focus was and that's what the limited money was focused on.  Nouri, his wife Fareeha Khalil and their five children lived at near poverty levels in Iran, Syria and Jordan.   Not all exiles struggled economically.  Some had money they earned, some had family money.  Nouri had nothing.  Which is why the press didn't note his efforts prior to 2003 (or, really, until Bully Boy Bush installed him as prime minister in 2006).  Exile Ahmed Chalabi, for example, had money.  (Some of which came from questionable means -- at one point, he was facing charges in Jordan, those charges were dropped.)  And the press sucked up to Chalabi.

    But Nouri had nothing.  And his son's driving a Ferrari in England and buying properties?  Where'd the money come from?


    In October, Peg Mackey (Reuters) reported, "Production of nearly 3 million bpd earned Baghdad $94 billion in 2012 and netted $61 billion in the first eight months of this year."

    Where all the billions go, no one can answer.  Nouri's head of the government and he can't -- Excuse me, he won't say where the money is going. It's not going to the Iraqi people.  But Nouri's son, when not terrorizing Iraqi people by attacking them in their homes, zips around in pricey cars.

    Where are the jobs?

    In November on Here and Now (NPR -- link is audio and text), Robin Young and Jeremy Hobson spoke with the BBC's Hadya al-Alawi about Iraq.


    Hadya al-Alawi: I mean, how can I explain that life there is terrible? There is no electricity, and it's boiling hot in Iraq at this time. There is no water. The basic, main services are not provided in the country. I mean, security is very important. How can you go out about your daily life without knowing that you can come back, actually, to your kids at night? Or how can you go to work thinking I'm going to die today in an explosion, for example?


    In March, Lara Jakes (AP) reported, "An estimated 18 million people of Iraq's population of 30 million are younger than 25, according to data provided by the CIA and the United Nations. [. . .] Unemployment remains high among young Iraqis.  Only 46 percent of people aged 25 to 30 had jobs in 2009, the government study showed."

    The announcement that only 6.4 million lived below the poverty line (announced at the end of August) really wasn't good news.  6.4 million would be approximately 1/5 of the country's population -- living below the poverty line.  That ignores all living at poverty level.


    We've long pointed out Iraq's young population and how it effects politics.  We'll note it again.  Nouri's State of Law repeatedly loses the youth vote.  That only increases each election.  It's why Nouri's remained silent about the voter registration efforts while other Iraqi leaders like Moqtada al-Sadr, Ammar al-Hakim and Ayad Allawi have repeatedly issued statements urging people to register for the upcoming elections (Allawi even taped a video PSA on the issue).  Every year, 800,000 young people become eligible to vote in Iraq.  It's in Nouri's interest to make sure they don't.  He does best with reactionary voters on the far end of middle age.

    Let's go back to Barzani.  His opposition to Nouri has made him a significant figure on the world stage.  It's increased his popularity in the KRG and throughout Iraq.  So it's not a big surprise that  Ahmed Chalabi told All Iraq News that KRG President Massoud Barzani would make a great president for Iraq.


    That's not surprising.  Chalabi likes to make alliances with power players and Barzani is one.  And he's the strongest choice for President of Iraq.  Dropping back to the November 15th snapshot:


    In 2014, Iraq's supposed to hold Parliamentary elections.  This will mean, among other things (if elections are held), that someone will be selected to be President of Iraq.
    The KDP is coming off a huge victory and KRG President Massoud Barazani is looking for the next post to tackle.  What if that post is the Iraqi presidency?  Which would see him resign as the KRG President and possibly upgrade his nephew, the current prime minister of the KRG, into the post of presidency?

    [. . .]
    Barzani's got two years tacked on to his presidency of the KRG.  That's 2014 and 2015.  Then what?
    He can't have a third term (the two years tacked on was consolation for the fact that, during his first term, the law was passed limiting the office to two terms).  He has an international presence.
    Hoshyar Zebari's a joke.  Even his own party, PUK, is now lukewarm on him and that's before he attempted to stab the Talabani family in the back.
    A Kurd as prime minister of Iraq?  Not happening in 2014.  So that leaves the presidency or Speaker of Parliament and, of the two, the presidency has more prestige.
    And the Kurds consider it their position.  Talabani  insisted to US Vice President Joe Biden (in the fall of 2010) that the presidency belonged to the Kurds.  (Talabani was being asked to step aside and let Ayad Allawi take the post since his Iraqiya got the most votes and since the US government would not allow Allawi to be prime minister because they were backing Nouri.)
    If it's a Kurdish position, Barzani would be the most likely choice to fill it.



    Iraq's Constitution requires that the government have a president.  Yet they currently have no president.


    Jalal Talabani is the President of Iraq.  Or he's supposed to be.  The question continues to be: Can you be the president of a country you're not in?  Last December,  Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke.   The incident took place late on December 17th (see the December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.    Thursday, December 20th, he was moved to Germany.  He remains in Germany currently.  At least as far as anyone knows.

    Or 'knows.'

    Because no one knows.

    The Talabani family has hidden him away and refused to allow various government officials to meet with him (including Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi).


    EKurd.net reports, "The leader in Kurdistan Alliance, Dr Mahmoud Othman, an independent member said on Sunday, that the absence of President, Jalal Talabani for a full year impacted Iraq and the Kurds, noting that Talabani is still alive, criticizing the way of not declaring anything about him and his health. Mysteriously ill Talabani had suffered from a stroke mid-of last December and since then he was transferred to a hospital in Germany for treatment then disappeared." Othman 'knows' based on what?  Has he suddenly met with Jalal?

    Jalal may be alive, he may be dead -- no one but his family knows -- and his medical team.  All Iraq News reports that the "Governor of Kirkuk and the physician of the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani" isued a statement denying any statements have been made by them and this is in response to rumors that Jalal or his corpse has been moved from the German hospital.



    The reported violence kicked off today with, as NINA reported, an attempt to storm Anbar Province's Karmeh police station.  The assault left 1 police officer dead and another injured.

    NINA also notes a Baquba car bombing claimed 4 lives and left ten more injured, a Haditha roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left two more injured,  and 2 police officers shot dead in Mosul. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports a Burhiz bombing which claimed 12 lives and left twenty-four injured.  Reuters adds the bombing was near a cafe frequented by Sahwa and quotes bombing victim Ahmed Saied stating,  "I opened my eyes minutes later and dust covered the place.  Many cars were burning and shrapnel was everywhere.  While police were evacuating me, I saw many killed and wounded people at the scene." BBC News adds, "A roadside bomb exploded near a market in Baghdad's eastern Besmaya district, killing at least two people, officials said.  In a village just north of Baghdad, a car bomb killed three police officers and wounded nine others."

    That's 25 reported deaths and 46 reported injured.

    On the above reported violence, the Reuters story?  Sylvia Westall and Alistair Lyon were among the journalists responsible.  There's also "a Reuters reporter in Baquba" -- throughout the illegal war, journalists have been at risk -- especially Iraqi journalists.  It's why one of the finest reporters to cover Iraq was Sahar Issa.  The Iraqi female worked for McClatchy Newspapers for many years (until McClatchy lost interest in Iraq) and Sahar Issa is her work name, not her real name.  Like many other Iraqi correspondents, she couldn't use her real name due to safety concerns (for herself, her children, her whole family).

    Things are getting worse with more harassment of Iraqi journalists by Nouri's forces.  Let's again note  Aswat al-Iraq November 30th report:


    Press Freedoms Observatory reported that the Iraqi police are "pressing" journalists to "sign written pledges not to practice their field work", as well as detaining them for hours in Najaf and Missan cities. 
     Baghdadiya correspondent in Najaf Rasha al-Abidi said to the Observatory that she "suffered reactions by the people when covering the latest floods in the city". 
     She added that one of police officers demanded her to sign a written pledge not to work in journalism "for good" in order to release her, but she refused till some personalities interfered for her release, while her camera was kept with the security force.   

    Reporting today on yesterday's violence, Rudaw notes:

    In a different incident, a hand grenade was hurled into the home of Kawez Parwez, a Kurdish journalist in Kirkuk working for Zagros TV, which belongs to the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Kirkuk. 
     "I was sitting at home when it happened and I was slightly hurt by smashed glass from a window,” Parwez told Rudaw by telephone. "I don't have any personal feud or social issues with anyone," he added. 
    The attacks came only days after the murder of Kurdish journalist Kawa Garmiyani, the 32-year-old editor-in-chief of Rayalla magazine, who was shot dead in the town of Kalar in Iraqi Kurdistan on Thursday.


    On yesterday's violence, Iraq Body Count notes 58 violent deaths yesterday and that Sunday's violence brought the number of violent deaths for the month so far to 284.  Adding the 25 so far today, there have been 309 violent deaths for the month so far -- and it's not even the half-way mark.


    We're about to wind down.  Didn't see your own issue highlighted?  I'm not spending forever on these snapshots.

    But I e-mailed  the public e-mail account!

    Did you?

    Did you also include an attachment?

    Despite the fact that we've said for years that we don't and we won't open attachments?

    How many more times do we have to say that?

    Your issue might have made today's snapshot.  But three of you sent attachments and I'm hoping that tomorrow you will have re-sent without attachments. No one working the public account is going to open attachments.

    Maybe you're one of the 25 who sent their own writing?

    Normally that's fine.

    But the 25 I'm talking about?

    You didn't include links.  You didn't note where you were published.  Googling by me and nine others couldn't find your writing online.  We don't have that kind of time.  If you want to be highlighted, include the link.  And stop sending the Bully Boy Bush pieces.  I'm not interested.

    I'm kind of embarrassed for you that in 2013 you think the height of bravery is calling out Bully Boy Bush.  Wow, I guess I qualify for a Profile In Courage -- not for this site but for flipping the bird to an enraged Dick Cheney while he was running the country.

    Life has moved on.   Can you?

    Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal.  I don't pretend otherwise.  He's also not the most important thing to Iraq or even the world in 2013.  Life does move on.

    We'll close with an important issue, an actual one, freeing a political prisoner.  US political prisoner Lynne Stewart,   was eventually tossed in prison.  The 'crime' happened on Attorney General Janet Reno's watch.  Reno has her detractors who think she was far too tough as Attorney General.  She also has her supporters who see her as a moderate.  No one saw her as 'soft.'  Reno had her Justice Department review what happened.  There was no talk of a trial because there was no crime.  No law was broken.  The Justice Department imposes guidelines -- not written by Congress, so not laws -- on attorneys.  Lynne was made to review the guidelines and told not to break it again.  That was her 'punishment' under Janet Reno.  Bully Boy Bush comes into office and the already decided incident becomes a way for Attorney General John Ashcroft to try to build a name for himself. He goes on David Letterman's show to announce, after 9-11, that they're prosecuting Lynne for terrorism.

    Eventually tossed in prison?  Even Bully Boy Bush allowed Lynne to remain out on appeal.  It's only when Barack Obama becomes president that Lynne gets tossed in prison.  It's only under Barack that the US Justice Depart disputes the judge's sentence and demands a harsher one (under the original sentence Lynne would be out now).  Lynne's cancer has returned.

    She needs to be home with her family.  Her time is limited and it needs to be spent with her loved ones.  Lynne's a threat to no one -- not today, not ten years ago.  She's a 74-year-old grandmother who has dedicated her life to being there for people who would otherwise have no defenders.  Even now in prison, she shows compassion towards those who have had none for her.  Barack Obama needs to order her immediate release.  If he fails to do so, then it should be a permanent stain on his record.



    “HELP BRING ME HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS” a life and death appeal from renowned people’s attorney Lynne Stewart.


    “I need to ask once again for your assistance in forcing the Bureau of Prisons to grant my Compassionate Release. They have been stonewalling since August and my life expectancy, as per my cancer doctor, is down to 12 months. They know that I am fully qualified and that over 40,000 people have signed on to force them to do the right thing, which is to let me go home to my family and to receive advanced care in New York City.


    “Yet they refuse to act. While this is entirely within the range of their politics and their cruelty to hold political prisoners until we have days to live before releasing us – witness Herman Wallace of Angola and Marilyn Buck – we are fighting not to permit this and call for a BIG push.”

    Lynne Stewart, FMC Carswell



    Take Action between now and the New Year. 
    Telephone and send emails or other messages to Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Charles E. Samuels, Jr. and Attorney General Eric Holder.


    CHARLES E. SAMUELS, Jr., Director Federal Bureau of Prisons
    (202) 307-3250 or 3062; info@bop.gov


    ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER, U.S. Department of Justice
    (202) 353-1555; AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

    Contact U.S. Embassies and Consulates in nations throughout the world


    LET US CREATE A TIDAL WAVE OF EFFORT INTERNATIONALLY. Together, we can prevent the bureaucratic murder of Lynne Stewart.

    Notes:

    In a new 237-page report entitled “A Living Death,” the American Civil Liberties Union documents unconstitutional practices permeating federal and state prisons in the United States.
    Focused on life imprisonment without parole for minor offenses, the ACLU details conditions of 3,278 individual prisoners whose denial of release is deemed “a flagrant violation of the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment” occurring on an increasing scale.
    The ACLU labels the deliberate stonewalling as “willful,” a touchstone of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice flagrant violation of the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
    These conclusions corroborate the findings of Human Rights Watch in 2012: “The Answer is ‘No’: Too Little Compassionate Release in U.S. Prisons.”
    The Report is definitive in exposing arbitrary and illegal conduct that infuses every facet of the treatment accorded Lynne Stewart.
    “…the Bureau has usurped the role of the courts. In fact, it is fair to say the jailers are acting as judges. Congress intended the sentencing judge, not the BOP to determine whether a prisoner should receive a sentence reduction.”
    Lynne Stewart’s medical findings show less than twelve months to live as stipulated by her oncologist at FMC Carswell.

    The Federal Bureau Prisons has failed to file the legally required motion declaring solely that the matter is “with the Department of Justice.” 











    cnn


    Thank you, Michelle Obama

    $
    0
    0
    Larry Johnson (No Quarter) has just posted a series of photos on the service for the late Nelson Mandela and he shares:


    Let’s give Michelle Obama some props. She apparently was the only one in this group of clowns who genuinely appreciated the solemnity of the moment. This was not first day of class at Moron University. Obama is attending the funeral of Nelson Mandela and is supposed to represent the people of the United States. Rather than appreciate the moment, he decided to flirt with the blonde chick. Pathetic.



  • Cedric and Wally covered it earlier today:




  • I think it is really sad that Ms. Obama had to be the grown up.  I am glad that the First Lady had the decency and manners to realize that her husband's behavior was disrespectful.  I applaud Michelle Obama for that and for taking action (she made the President swap places with her to remove him from the 'jokes' and 'funnies' at the funeral service).  I give her real credit. 

    But how sad that the President does not know how to conduct himself at a funeral.

    Again, thank you, Ms. Obama.  You were the grown up and that is not the fun role but you restored order and dignity and I thank you for that.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    Tuesday, December 10, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue,  the US government continues to betray Iraqi women, the United Nations doesn't trust US official Brett McGurk, where are the 7 kidnapped members of the Ashraf community, Iraq's election season continues to heat up, and more.


    I blame the western press and I blame government officials -- especially US government officials. For what? For the news Amal Sakr (Al-Monitor) reports today, the Iraqi government rejects women's shelters:

    "Living in a jungle ruled by men." This is how Dahaa al-Rawi, the chair of the Women's Committee in the local Baghdad government, described the status of women in Iraq. Women are marginalized and their abilities unrecognized — domestically, socially and politically. Women are subjected to violence of all forms and murder on an ongoing basis.
    "We do not have any statistics about the status of women, or the daily violence that they are subjected to," Rawi said, adding, "In Baghdad's local government council, they view us as merely a secondary committee that does not play an important role."
    Speaking to Al-Monitor, Rawi said that the same also applies to Iraq's state institutions and ministries concerned with statistics or women's issues. None of them have accurate data showing the extent of violence against women in Iraq.
    In an attempt to obtain figures showing the depth of the problem, Al-Monitor spoke with Dr. Marwa Mohammed, who works at Al-Yarmouk Hospital in Baghdad. According to Mohammed, Al-Yarmouk's emergency room receives an average of two cases per day of women who have been beaten by their husbands or another family member.
    "The most dangerous cases we receive are pregnant women who have been severely beaten. This exposes them to the risk of miscarriage," Mohammed added. She noted that in most cases the beatings cause internal bleeding, which leaves bruises that need a long time to heal.

    Nouri's government rejects women's shelters -- even the stooge he has as Minister of Women rejects women's shelters.

    Dropping back to Sunday, November 24th,  "Umed Sami (Kirkuk Now) reports that Monday kicks off Domestic Violence Awareness Week which actually lasts two weeks and that there are many different actions because there are '20 women's rights organizations in Kirkuk'." And now moving to Tuesday, November 26th:

    The Kurdistan Regional Government noted the kick off on Monday and that Monday was International Day Against Violence Against Women (that's a United Nations day around the world).  KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani addressed a large group of men and women -- including ministers of government, MPs in the Iraqi Parliament and the Kurdish Parliament, regional official and diplomats --  in Erbil.  Barzani noted that violence against women is violence against human rights and the issue is not a 'women's issue' but one for the entire community to work on.  He called for justice which means changing the laws in the KRG so that the light penalities for husbands killing wives are eliminated (he noted the KRG law currently mirrors the law for the rest of Iraq).  He noted that they need to address the issue of child brides and the practice of female genital mutilation.  He cited figures finding that reported violence against women had fallen in 2012 but he stated that the gains were not enough and the community needed to work harder to address the issue.
    Iraq's Human Rights Ministry also had an event.  Compare the photos.  Even if you can't read Arabic, you'll note many things.  For example, the Baghdad turnout?  Not that impressive in terms of numbers. The KRG photo displays ten packed rows of attendees (and the photo cuts off with the impression that there are rows not displayed in the photo).  In Baghdad, they take up about six rows -- with a lot of empty spaces.  In the KRG, you see shiny, healthy hair on the heads of men and women.  In Baghdad, most women have their hair covered.  (Four brave women on the second row do not cover their hair.) Nouri's Prime Minister of Iraq.  Did he address the gathering?
    Nope. 
    He couldn't be bothered with the topic.  
    Ibithal al-Zaidi was present.  Declaring she (now) believes in equality between the sexes -- based on the law and religions.   Whatever.  
    How important was the event?  
    They don't even bother to finish the press release -- it cuts off before the end of the release.
    Nouri should have been present.  By refusing to show up for the Baghdad event, let alone speak at it, he made clear that violence against women does not qualify as a serious issue to him.
    We're not done with the KRG yet.  Al Mada reports that KRG President Massoud Barzani issued a statement decrying violence against women saying it was inhumane and against the basic principals of humanity.  He noted the sacrifices and actions Iraqi women had taken part in to create a better Iraq and called for rights to live safely and free from oppression, discrimination and violence.


    We called Nouri out repeatedly in the last two weeks as he remained silent (here for another example).  Where was the western press?  Where was the US government?

    You know it doesn't take a million dollar weapon or a bombing campaign for the US State Dept in any of their multitude of useless blathering briefings to bring up Iraq and note that it's very disappointing when the prime minister of a country can't decry violence against women even during the two weeks when the country is supposedly decrying violence against women.

    And what's even worse is that the US State Dept is always making these pretense that they care about women.  Right now, they also have two women as spokespeople: Marie Harf and Jen Psaki.  But the Dept is silent as women suffer Iraq.  The State Dept funnels a billion-plus dollars -- US tax dollars -- into Iraq each year and it can't say a damn word while Iraqi women suffer.


    Last March,  Rania Khalek (Muftah) noted it wasn't always women under attack in Iraq:
    Contrary to popular imagination, Iraqi women enjoyed far more freedom under Saddam Hussein’s secular Ba’athist government than women in other Middle Eastern countries. In fact, equal rights for women were enshrined in Iraq’s Constitution in 1970, including the right to vote, run for political office, access education and own property. Today, these rights are all but absent under the U.S.-backed government of Nouri al-Maliki.
    Prior to the devastating economic sanctions of the 1990s, Iraq’s education system was top notch and female literacy rates were the highest in the region, reaching 87 percent in 1985. Education was a major priority for Saddam Hussein’s regime, so much so that in 1982 Iraq received the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) award for eradicating illiteracy. But the education system crumbled from financial decay under the weight of the sanctions pushing over 20 percent of Iraqi children out of school by 2000 and reversing decades of literacy gains. Today, a quarter of Iraqi women are illiterate, more than double the rate for Iraqi men (11 percent). Female illiteracy in rural areas alone is as high as 50 percent.
    Women were integral to Iraq’s economy and held high positions in both the private and public sectors, thanks in large part to labor and employment laws that guaranteed equal pay, six months fully paid maternity leave and protection from sexual harassment. In fact, it can be argued that some of the conditions enjoyed by working women in Iraq before the war rivaled those of working women in the United States.



    The US government is directly responsible for the destruction of women's rights but it can't say a word?


    In November,  the CEO of Thomson Reuters Foundation, Monique Villas, (at Huffington Post) noted violence against women:



    The picture is grim. A perception poll of gender experts by the Thomson Reuters Foundation shows that the rise of political Islam across Arab Spring countries has had a real impact on secularism. Almost three years after popular uprisings toppled autocratic leaders in one of the most conservative corners of the world, three out of five Arab Spring countries rank among the bottom five states for women's rights
    Many political gains for women have been lost. In fact, women are struggling to preserve their dignity, and far from progressing, they are now fighting to preserve the rights they had before the Arab Spring. 

    [. . .]
    Life is not much better in Iraq, second-worst country for women's rights in the region, according to the survey.
    The experts said that radical Islamisation of society, sectarian violence and a reaction against what many see as western imperialism in the years after the 2003 invasion were all having a devastating impact on women.
    The "war on terror" has made widows of 1.6 million Iraqi women, leaving them without income and with few prospects of employment. In Iraq, only 14.5 percent of the entire female population is employed, and women have lost their voice in political circles. Mass displacement has made them vulnerable to trafficking and sexual violence.


    Again, it wouldn't cost the US tax payers a damn cent if the State Dept could get it off it's do-nothing ass and raise the issue of Iraqi women in a briefing.  If they did, it would then be up to the press to amplify the remarks and faced with such coverage -- if the press did their job -- Iraqi women might get a domestic violence shelter or two.  If the US government would actual strings in place, actual conditions for aid or on the military hardware they're still supplying Iraq with, Iraqi women could get shelters across Iraq.

    But the US government doesn't care about Iraqi women.  Secretary of State John Kerry is wrapping up his first year in the post and doing so having failed to ever acknowledge Iraqi women despite the fact that Iraq and Afghanistan are the two biggest items in the State Dept budget.

    Are we surprised that the State Dept's done such a poor job for Iraqi women?

    No.

    April 17th, Secretary Kerry appeared before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.   Let's note Kerry on women from that hearing:

    Ava here, filling in for Trina.  I'm covering a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The witness they heard from was Secretary John Kerry.
    They didn't really discuss the budget at all.
    I will note one exchange.  It was very disappointing.  It started off interesting.  And then . . . Well, here's the exchange.


    US House Rep William Keating: Thank you for being here.  I know that both of us, although we're here, part of us are still back home in Massachusetts this morning.  Getting to the theme of this morning's hearing, your theme of small smart investments is right on point, I couldn't agree with it more.  One of those areas that the administration and you have been involved with personally and Secretary [Hillary] Clinton had been involved with was really dealing with issues like the National Action Plan for Woman Peace and Security in the World.  And I think that we can't approach the broader issues of poverty and the rule of law and education and health care around the world without dealing with these issues, they're core to dealing with any advancement in that area. And, furthermore, I think they're the smartest way to make some of these investments for our dollar and to be effective. So I'd like you to, just two things, if you could, comment on.  One is generally comment on your ability to deal with these gender equality advancement issues with women around the world and, number two, particularly, gender-based violence.  You know it, in your capacity, you knew it when you were a prosecutor, as I did.  They know no borders or bounds when you're dealing with violence based on gender-based violence.  And internationally, the violence that so many women experience take many different forms -- from rape to early forced marriage to harmful traditional practices that occur such as genital mutilation, 'honor' killings, acid violence, sexual violence and contact -- and I could go on and on and on. But can you comment on the Department's first-time ever strategy to prevent gender-based violence globally?  Those are the two things I'd like you to comment on, Mr. Secretary. 

    Secretary John Kerry:  Well, thank you, Congressman.  It's good to see you and thanks for our shared feelings about what's happened up in Boston. Secretary Clinton did a great job of putting this issue squarely on everybody's agenda and I'm determined to make certain that we live up to that standard -- if not exceed it.  And we're in -- I think we're in a good start to do that in terms of trafficking issues and other things.  But in-in London last week at the G8 Ministers meeting, Foreign Minister [William] Hague of Great Britain made the centerpiece of our meeting sexual violence as a tool of war.  And we had a meeting, we had outside representatives come in who helped to raise the profile of that and, in my judgment, it was a very valuable moment for people to realize that this is going to be held accountable as a War Crime.  And we're going to keep this gender-based violence front and center as we go forward.  I would also say to everybody, when I was in Afghanistan a couple of weeks ago, when Anne Smedinghoff was my control officer, she helped put together a remarkable meeting of ten entrepreneurs, ten women in Afghanistan who are struggling against all of the resistance culturally and historically in that country to stand up and start businesses and-and help girls go to schools, help women be able to be entrepreneurs.  A remarkable process.  And the courage that they exhibited deserves everybody's support.  It would certainly get ours in the State Dept.  And we're going to continue this in many different ways over the next years in the State Dept -- you'll see us continue it. 

    US House Rep William Keating:  Thank you, Mr. Secretary.  In terms of accountability, could that also include standards that might be tied to aid to some extent?

    Secretary John Kerry:  You know, Congressman, there are some places that lend themselves to that kind of conditionality and there are others that just don't. And I don't think there's a blanket cover all of explaining a set of standards that's going to apply everywhere.  In some countries, the standards could actually be counter-productive and you don't get done what you're trying to do.  It really depends on what is the package, what's the nature of the program, and I think you have to be pretty customized in that approach. 


    Excuse me, we can't impose a standard?


    Ava goes no to note a State Dept April 11th statement which opens:

    G8 Foreign Ministers met in London on 10-11 April. The G8 represents a group of nations with a broad range of global interests and with a collective responsibility and opportunity to use its influence to address some of the most pressing issues in the world.
    Foreign Ministers addressed a number of international issues, challenges and opportunities that impact on global peace, security and prosperity. Beyond exchanging views and coordinating actions on the pressing foreign policy issues of the day, they made a number of commitments as set out below and in the separate Declaration on the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Conflict.


    Empty talk from an empty department.

    We got more empty talk from the Dept  November 13th when the State Dept's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs testified to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa -- see the November 13th "Iraq snapshot," the November 14th "Iraq snapshot" and in the November 15th  "Iraq snapshot."




    If the US government is telling the truth, the seven are no longer in Iraq.  This was revealed in the final exchange of the hearing, when US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee joined the Subcommittee and, after taking a brief break, began her five minute round of questioning.  Two notes.  "[. . .]"?  We don't have time to include their praise of one another and maybe if that praise hadn't been used to waste time then Sheila Jackson Lee would not have had to ask for more time?  Second "pointed purse"?  I have no idea.  I turned to Ava and asked, "Did she just say 'pointed purse'?" That's what Ava heard as well.  Who knows what she said, that's what it sounded like.  With that, here's the exchange.


    US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee:   [. . .]  But there are hostages in Iraq that we must have now.  There's documentation that those hostages are there by our French allies, by the United Nations and other supportive groups and information.  I can't imagine with the wealth of sophisticated intelligence authorities that we have, that we have funded who have a vast array of information about Americans  cannot pinpoint where starving Iranians, loved ones [are] whose families are trying to save their lives after being on a hunger strike for 73 days.  And so I would ask this question of you, already knowing about your heart and your concern, I will not judge you, I already know that you're committed to getting this right/  Will you -- will you demand of Maliki, not next week or months from now, but can we expect in the next 48 hours a call to the head of the government of Iraq demanding the release of these hostages and demanding their release now?  Or the documented, undeniable evidence that they are not held in Iraq?  Second, would you be engaged with -- or  the Secretary [of State John Kerry] be engaged with -- and I have spoken to Secretary Kerry, I know his heart -- with Maliki to demand the security of those in Camp Ashraf  for now and forever until a relocation to a homeland, a place where their relatives are or where they desire to be? [. . .]

    Brett McGurk:  [. . .] We can pinpoint where the people are and I'd like to follow up with you on that.  The seven are not in Iraq.  But I will guarantee in my conversations with Maliki on down, the safety and the security of Camp Ashraf, Camp Liberty, where the residents are, the government needs to do everything possible to keep those poeople safe  but they will never be safe until they're out of Iraq.  And we all need to work together -- the MEK, us, the Committee, everybody, the international community -- to find a place for them to go.  There's now a UN trust fund, we've donated a million dollars and we're asking for international contributions to that fund for countries like Albania that don't have the resources but are willing to take the MEK in.  And we need to press foreign captials to take them in because until they're out, they're not going to be safe and we don't want anyone else to get hurt.  We don't want anymore Americans to get hurt in Iraq, we don't want anymore Iraqis to get hurt in Iraq  and we don't want any more residents of Camp Liberty to get hurt in Iraq and until they're out of Iraq, they're not going to be safe.  This is an international crisis and we need international help and support. 


    US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee:  May I follow -- May I just have a minute more to follow up with Mr. McGurk, Secretary McGurk?  And I hear the passion in your voice but let me just say this. We're in an open hearing.  You know where they are.  Who is going to rescue them?  Whose responsibility will it be to get them from where they are into safe haven?  Because otherwise, we're leaving -- we're leaving Maliki now without responsibility.  We're saying, and you're documenting that they're not there.  Let me just say that when my government speaks, I try with my best heart and mind to believe it.  But I've got to see them alive and well to believe that they're not where I think they are, they're in a pointed purse.  I'm glad to here that but I want them to be safe but I want them to be in the arms of their loved ones or at least able to be recognized by their loved one that they're safe somewhere.  So can that be done in the next 48 hours?  Can we have a-a manner that indicates that they are safe?

    Brett McGurk:  I will repeat here a statement that we issued on September 16th and it's notable and I was going to mention this in my colliquy with my Congressman to my left, that within hours of the attack, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Score issued a statement praising the attack.  We issued a statement on September 16th calling on the government of Iran to use whatever influence it may have with groups that might be holding these missing persons to secure their immediate release.  And I can talk more about details and the status of these individuals.  And I've briefed some members of the Subcommittee. I'd be happy to follow up. 


    Guess what?

    No one believes Brett McGurk.  It's as though the world is his first wife and he's insisting he's not screwing Gina Chon.  No one believes him.  Imagine that, a cheater's word not being his bond.

    The United Nations Human Rights' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued the following today:


    GENEVA (9 December 2013) – A group of United Nations independent experts today called on the Government of Iraq to establish the fate and whereabouts of seven residents of Camp Ashraf, who were allegedly abducted last September after an attack in which 52 persons were killed. More than 3,000 Iranian exiles have been based at the Ashraf refugee camp near Baghdad since the 1980s.
    The human rights experts expressed serious concern about the lack of information from the Iraqi authorities regarding the results of ongoing investigations into the attack.
    “We call upon the Government of Iraq to speed up the investigations in order to disclose the fate and whereabouts of the individuals,” the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances said, while recalling that, at some point, Iraqi forces allegedly admitted having these individuals in custody.
    The facts are still being established three months after the violent event. However, there are allegations that the attack and the abduction of the seven residents of Camp Ashraf, including six women, were conducted by Iraqi security forces. It has also been alleged that it is impossible for anyone to enter Camp Ashraf without the cooperation of Iraq forces.
    All of those killed reportedly died as a consequence of gunshot wounds, mainly in the head or neck. A number of those killed were found with their hands tied, an act apparently committed prior to their deaths. Some victims were allegedly shot while fleeing or seeking medical assistance after having been wounded.
    “International law clearly requires Governments to ensure that all allegations of killings are investigated in a prompt, effective and impartial manner, irrespective of who the perpetrator is,” the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, noted. “Failure to do so is a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
    The group of experts stressed that “The impunity with which these crimes have been committed is particularly flagrant given the severity of the offences and the alleged evidence of engagement by Iraqi forces in the commission of these crimes.” In their view, “the State has an obligation to exercise due diligence to prevent, protect, investigate, prosecute and punish all acts of violence, including those perpetrated against women, and to ensure their rights to be treated with dignity.”
    “The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has consistently held that the detention in Camp Ashraf is arbitrary,” said Mads Andenas, who currently heads the expert body. “The Iraqi Government has a particular responsibility to protect the detainees against human rights violations such as the recent deaths and abductions, and must now instigate independent investigations, end the detention regime, and in the meantime provide effective protection to those who remain in detention.”
    The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez, echoed the urgent call to establish the fate and whereabouts of the seven Iranian exiles. “Detention in secret places can facilitate the perpetration of torture and other ill-treatment and can in itself constitute a form of such treatment,” he warned.
    Concerns have been raised that the seven missing residents of Camp Ashraf may be forcibly returned to the Islamic Republic of Iran, where they might be at risk of being persecuted, tortured or subjected to other forms of ill-treatment. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the seven missing residents are asylum-seekers enjoying the status of protected persons.“Iraq’s obligations under international law are clear, the Government shall not expel, return, extradite or in any other way transfer a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture,” Mr. Mendez underscored.
    The UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, noted that this is the third time that the residents of Camp Ashraf have been subjected to physical assault. “I condemn the lack of proper investigation of the massacres and the impunity of those responsible for them,” he said.
    Mr. de Zayas pointed out that “Grave crimes of this nature, and the impunity that has accompanied them, entail violations of numerous international treaty provisions and constitute an assault on the rule of law, an affront to the international community and a threat to the international order.”
    “The families of the killed and disappeared are entitled to the right to know what happened to their loved ones, and to adequate reparation for the suffering endured,” he stated.
    The group of experts urged the Iraqi authorities “to take all necessary measures to clarify the whereabouts of the missing individuals, guarantee their safety and rights, and prevent their extradition to Iran.”

    The United Nations Special Rapporteurs are part of what it is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the United Nations Human Rights, is the general name of the independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms of the Human Rights Council that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. They are charged by the Human Rights Council to monitor, report and advise on human rights issues. Currently, there are 37 thematic mandates and 14 mandates related to countries and territories, with 72 mandate holders. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. Learn more: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/Welcomepage.aspx


    UPI covers it here and here, World Bulletin covers it here. None of them note Brett McGurk's testimony where he claimed to know where the 7 were.

    If McGurk were considered believable, don't you think the United Nations would be pressing the US government to reveal where the 7 were?

    Parliamentary elections are supposed to take place in Iraq April 30th.  Political groups are making plans. Asharq al-Awsat reports:

    Sixteen Kurdish political blocs and parties from Kirkuk, 150 miles (235 kilometers) north of Baghdad, said they would stand for the forthcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections on the same electoral list, a Kurdish source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
    In an official statement, the newly allied parties, calling themselves the “Kurdistan Kirkuk List,” said they agreed to contest the next parliamentary elections in Iraq slated for April 30, 2014, “on the same electoral list, which has the same program.”
    The statement continued: “The list will have a uniform symbol, namely the flag of Kurdistan and Kirkuk Citadel.”

    Speaking exclusively to Asharq Al-Awsat, a spokesman for the electoral list, Adnan Kirkuki, said that the idea of forging the alliance came “according to the requirements of the Kurdish people in Kirkuk, given that they share one national cause, namely that of the land.”


    Meanwhile Hamza Mustafa (Ashraq al-Awsat) reports on the bloc that won the 2010 elections, Iraqiya:


    Iraq’s powerful Iraqiya bloc appears to have fragmented in the run-up to forthcoming parliamentary elections, with leader Iyad Allawi forming a new electoral list set to be named the “National Iraqiya” bloc, and prominent members Saleh Al-Mutlaq and Osama Al-Nujaifi negotiating to form a second coalition.
    [. . .] Allawi’s new electoral bloc largely comprises politicians that were not previously members of Iraqiya.
    The remnants of the Iraqiya bloc, particularly the Motahedoun (“United”) coalition led by Iraqi parliamentary speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi and the Iraqiya Al-Arabiya coalition led by Saleh Al-Mutlaq, have now allied and are in the process of negotiating the formation of a new political coalition.
    Negotiations are continuing between the two blocs are regarding the leadership and name of this prospective coalition.
    Elsewhere, former members of the Iraqiya bloc have united in Diyala Province and have formed a separate coalition set to be named “Diyala Huweituna” (“Diyala Is Our Identity”). In addition, one of the former Iraqiya bloc’s main financial supporters, businessman Khamis Al-Khanjar, has also formed a new bloc in Kirkuk predominately comprised of Arab politicians.

    And an analysis is offered.  A flawed one.  People seem unaware -- observers -- of what 2010 actually did.  We've got other things to cover this go round.  We'll note reality and how the ground changed in 2010 in another snapshot before the elections.


    Today the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq issued the following statement:

    Baghdad, 10 December 2013 -- The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Nickolay Mladenov, voiced grave concern over the recent spate of assassination of journalists in several parts of the country, including in Sulaymaniya and Mosul, while performing their duties. 
    "I urge the authorities to take all necessary measures to investigate and prevent these crimes and to ensure that journalists can work safely, free from threats of violence, intimidation or arbitrary arrests."

    Mushreq Abbas (Al-Monitor) reports on the killing of journalists in Iraq:

    On Dec. 8, the body of Yasser Faisal al-Jumaili, an Iraqi photojournalist who was executed by al-Qaeda in Syria, arrived in Fallujah. Only one day before the arrival of the body, dozens of journalists in Sulaimaniyah staged a sit-in to protest against the assassination of journalist Kawa Ahmed Germyani in Kalar at the hands of gunmen.
    Speaking to Al-Monitor, Ziad al-Ajaili, the head of the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory in Iraq, said: “No blood money is paid to the families of murdered journalists, who are killed on a daily basis. In Mosul alone, 50 journalists have been killed since 2003.” According to Ajaili, most journalists fled the city after a hit list containing their names was recently published.
    According to international statistics, working as a journalist in Iraq is considered to be one of the most dangerous professions in the world. This is true not only because of the persistent threats they receive, but because the Iraqi authorities are unable to protect them in the first place and fail to reveal the identity of those responsible for these killings.
    On May 3, on the occasion of World Press Day, the International Committee to Protect Journalists classified Iraq as the worst country in terms of detecting the identity of the journalists' killers, stating that the Iraqi authorities are not doing their job to save journalists. 
     
    Yesterday a Mosul sticky bombing killed a lawyer and left his brother injured. National Iraqi News Agency reports 1 attorney was shot dead today in Mosul.  Attorneys have been targeted throughout the ongoing Iraq War but they lack advocacy agencies.  When attorneys gather in various countries -- such as the ABA in this country -- they apparently other concerns besides the safety of attorneys in foreign countries.

    The attack on the attorney wasn't the only violence today. NINA notes a Baquba bombing claimed the lives of 2 police officers and left two more injured, another Baquba bombing (this one a sticky bombing) left 1 person dead, a Baquba roadside bombing claimed 1 life and left three people injured, 7 people were shot dead in an Abi Saida orchard, a Mosul roadside bombing claimed the lives of  3 police officers and left another injured, another Mosul roadside bombing claimed the lives of 3 Iraqi soldiers and injured five more, a Mosul car bombing left two police officers injured, an armed attack in Zankwah left 1 police officer dead and two more injured, a Qa'im armed attack left 1 Iraqi soldier dead and two more injured, Diyala Police and the Tigris Operation Command announced they had shot dead 4 suspects, a Baghdad sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 traffic police officer, a western Baghdad bombing left four people injured, a southeast Baghdad roadside bombing also left four people injured and a Sha'ab bombing "near a market" left 1 person dead and four more injured. EFE notes, "In addition, several unidentified persons shot and killed a member of the pro-government Sunni militias in front of his home in Siniyah village, Salaheddin province, some 180 kilometers (110 miles) north of Baghdad." The Voice of Russia adds, "A suicide bomber attacked a Shiite shrine in Iraq Tuesday, killing 11 people, including some mourning seven who were shot dead earlier in the day, police and a doctor said. The blast at the Abu Idris shrine in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad in the religiously and ethnically mixed province of Diyala, also wounded 19 people, the sources said."



    Through yesterday, Iraq Body Countnotes 314 violent deaths for the month so far and 8500 for the year so far.

    Benjamin Cosman (PolicyMic) notes the continued and increased violence in Iraq and concludes:


    All this after the Iraq War was supposedly “won.” It’s a decade-old conflict that keeps on costing thousands of lives each year. And as the U.S. continues to find new conflicts in which to be entangled, it might be easier to think this war was indeed won. But the 7,000-plus Iraqi deaths this year would beg to differ.



    Lastly,  the Feminist Majority Foundation issued the following today:




    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    December 10, 2013
    Contact: Megan Perry
    (703) 522-2214
    mperry@feminist.org
    On Human Rights Day, Feminist Majority Foundation Urges Leaders to Uphold Universal Access to Family Planning Services as a Human Right
    WASHINGTON -- Today, on Human Rights Day, Feminist Majority Foundation calls on global leaders to uphold universal access to family planning services as a fundamental human right.
    The United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, established in 1948, states in Article 25 that every person has the right to medical care for both themselves and their families. A vital component of women's healthcare is access to contraceptives and full reproductive healthcare, including abortion -- but this fundamental human right is being denied to millions of women, both in the U.S. and abroad.
    At least 222 million women in developing countries would like to delay or stop childbearing but are not able to access contraceptives. And in the U.S., we are continuously fighting outrageous attacks on our access to abortion and birth control at the federal, state and now municipal levels.
    "Access to family planning reduces both maternal mortality and illness, as well as infant mortality and illness," said Eleanor Smeal, Feminist Majority Foundation president. "Moreover, painful conditions such as ovarian cysts and endometriosis can be treated by family planning services. To deny such access is both cruel and harmful to millions of women."
    Feminist Majority Foundation has recently launched two actions to improve national and global access to reproductive healthcare services, including family planning:













    mushreq abbas



    Dan Rather is a liar and Raw Story is a fool

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    I was going to ignore Dan Rather, the failed news anchor.  But then Raw Story had to try to keep the story alive.

    For those who do not know, Dan Rather wants to rehabilitate his failed TV career.  Raw Story repeats:

    Former CBS anchor Dan Rather says Lara Logan should keep her job, but he said there was a key difference between the erroneous “60 Minutes” report on Benghazi and the report that ultimately cost his job.

    “With our story, the one that led to our difficulty, no question the story was true,” Rather told CNN’s Piers Morgan on Monday. “What the complaint was, was ‘Okay, your story was true, but where you got to the truth was flawed.’ That’s not the case with the Benghazi story. Unfortunately — and there’s no joy in saying it — they were taken in by a fraud.”


    One fourth of the story was retracted and apologized for.  But forget that for a moment.  Pretend the idiots at Raw Story are correct and the entire report was retracted.

    The difference between Ms. Logan's report and Mr. Rather's?

    CBS was very clear in their findings that no news outlet can allow their journalists to contact a political campaign -- a rival one at that -- about a story they are going to do.

    Mary Mapes (Mr. Rather's producer) called the John Kerry campaign to give them a heads up about the report that was to air and to arrange a meeting between the campaign and CBS' source -- who later went on the air and admitted he lied.

    But just the fact that Ms. Mapes was attempting to coordinate with the Kerry presidential campaign (they were too smart to play her game) was enough to get them all fired.

    Dan Rather keeps lying and idiots keep repeating his lies.

    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    Wednesday, December 11, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, for the third day in a row an attorney is assassinated in Iraq, another Iraqi Jew discovers their personal property into the Jewish Archives (stolen from the Jewish community by Saddam Hussein) and these are the archives that the White House insists should be handed over to the Iraqi government, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee holds a hearing, Jalal Talabani is 'seen' in another set of  carefully posed photos, and more.



    hj


    hero and jalal

    The above is from a series of photos, said to have been taken this month, to demonstrate Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is 'healthy' or at least still breathing.  Click here for the series of photos at his website, click here for the series at the Patriotic Unino of Kurdistan's media office.  The PUK Media office claims the photos are from "two days ago during a visitation of Hero Ibrahim Ahmed, Iraqi First Lady, to President Talabani in Germany."


    For those confused, last December,  Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke.   The incident took place late on December 17th (see the December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.    Thursday, December 20th, he was moved to Germany.

    AFP has two articles.  This one is embarrassing.  This one is solid. Reuters is just embarrassing all the way -- including links that don't work and running a 2010 photo of Jalal.  If the news is these photos, these new photos, why aren't you running them?

    So what we have is photos and a claim, at his own site, that his medical team that Jalal's "on the road to a full recovery."

    Oh, the lovely liars.

    PUK claims the photos are two days old, Jalal's website says they were taken on December 6th and December 8th.

    The liars can't even get the basics right.

    Let's briefly note the outlets -- AFP and Reuters.  It might be a good idea, if you're noting that 'road to recovery' spin, to also point out that this has been stated repeatedly.  Next week, it will be a full year since Jalal stopped doing his job.  Iraq will have been without a president for a full year.

    He's on his road to recovery just doesn't cut it!

    Nor do photos a heavily made up Jalal Talabani.

    Hint to those behind the fraud, next time you ply pancake on Jalal's face?  Put him in gloves or put make up on his hands.  His hands and his face need to match or you look like idiots.

    And you look like idiots.

    A heavily made up Jalal appears in a series of new or 'new' photos.

    And who knew he was going through a Mariah Carey phase?

    Remember when Mariah would only be photographed from her right side?  Until husband Nick Cannon told her she looked fine from the left as well?

    Can we send Nick to Germany to talk to Jalal?

    Jalal is not on the road to full recovery.

    Like the May photos, he is shown only from the right side.

    That would indicate that he still doesn't have control over the left side of his face.

    Not that he has control over his right.

    If you look at the latest photos, the first thing that stands out after the heavy facial make up is the mouth.  It can't smile.  It can't move.  The lips remain in the same position in every photo.





    That's not from the current crop of photos.  It's from the ones they released months ago in May.  Jalal's still being photographed from the right, he's still unable to smile, his mouth apparently can't move because, in the new photos, Hero's all over the place acting like she's keenly listening to what he's saying but his mouth never moves in one photo after another.  It's always the same tight line, always drooping down at the end.


    Jalal's a fat man.  He's also a vain man.  When he travels to the United States, for examples, he takes luggage, lots and lots of luggage.  He doesn't like repeating even a tie when he's doing official visits.


    So for two days this month, he was fine with being photographed in the same jogging suit?

    That really doesn't sound like Jalal.

    The photos yet again look posed.

    The photos yet again indicate Jalal has not recovered and does not have full control (or partial) over his body movements.  If you missed the photos in May, click here.

    Jalal may be improving slightly.

    Road to recovery?

    He's been on it for nearly a year.  He's not moving at a fast pace.

    He's clearly unable to do his job duties.

    The Constitution called for him to be replaced back in January.

    Article 75, Third Clause, "The Vice President shall replace the President of the Republic in the event that the post of the President becomes vacant for any reason whatsoever.  The Council of Representatives must elect a new President within a period not to exceed thirty days from the date of the vacancy."

    Instead, the Talabani family has pulled the wool over the Iraqi people's eyes, played them for fools.

    Questions need to be asked including when did Jalal stop receiving his presidential salary?

    Or is he still receiving it?

    In 2013, he has not performed one presidential duty.  In 2013, he has not set foot in Iraq.

    The Iraqi people have been lied to, they need to now know the Talabani family has not also committed economic fraud in 2013.

    The fraud also demonstrates that Iraq is not a Constitutional republic.

    The Constitution is meaningless in Iraq.

    By the end of 2007, Article 140 of the Constitution was supposed to be implemented -- per the Constitution.  Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki didn't do it in 2007 and has refused to obey the Constitution since.  The 2010 parliamentary elections demonstrated that the Constitution did not matter as US President Barack Obama ordered the brokering of a contract (The Erbil Agreement) to go around the Constitution and give second place Nouri a second term as prime minister.  As 2011 drew to a close, Nouri began his attack on Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi which included charges against him and a kangaroo court trial -- this despite the fact that Parliament refused to strip al-Hashemi of his office.  Per the Constitution, he has to be stripped of his office to stand trial.

    There's talk of amending the Constitution, there's talking of tossing it for a new one.

    Why bother?

    No one's following it currently.

    The Iraqi Constitution allows free speech and the right to assembly but Nouri's forces attack protesters for protesting.  The Iraqi Constitution allows freedom of speech but Nouri's forces attempt to strong-arm journalists into signing statements declaring that they won't report.

    Let's move over to a group of Iraqis visiting the US -- a group the State Dept still has Thursday to publicly note and highlight (though they've ignored them so far).   Samantha Glickman (Raleigh News Observer) reports on the three Iraqi coaches and eleven girls who were visiting North Carolina:


    The first all-girl soccer team to visit the United States as part of the State Department’s Iraq Soccer Visitor Program has spent much of its 10-day trip in the Triangle. The high-school-age girls from Baghdad, Kirkuk and Irbil watched the NCAA Women's College Cup tournament in Cary over the weekend and had a clinic Sunday with two-time Olympic gold medalist Cindy Cone, who works with the women's soccer program at the University of North Carolina.

    Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/10/3450227/iraqi-girls-soccer-team-visits.html#storylink=cpy

    16-year-old Iraqi Sarah Sameen Yasen explains, "Every girl and every woman stays away from sports because of security issues.  I want to prove to the others that this is not a reason to stay away from sports." 17-year-old Afiaa Kareem Taresh Chnani states, "That's why I'm here, because I want to learn how to be able to teach. I learned new skills, new exercises, new techniques I can take back with me to my home country and implement them so my other teammates who are still in Iraq can benefit from the skills that I've learned here in the States."

    Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/10/3450227/iraqi-girls-soccer-team-visits.html#storylink=cpy


    From soccer to football, last night Gen Ray Odierno was honored with the National Football Foundation's Distinguished American Award.  The former top US commander in Iraq (fall 2008 to fall 2010) appeared today on Fox & Friends (link is video).


    Brian Kilmeade:  If you had a residual force, do you believe things would be better in Iraq?

    Gen Ray Odierno:  I think -- It's hard to say.  I think it probably would have been if we were allowed to have a residual force. 

    Brian Kilmeade:  Does it -- does it hurt you because you spent so much of your life there and know so many people who lost their lives there.  Your own son [Capt Tony Odierno]  lost an arm there.  Does it disturb you to see where it is right now?

    Gen Ray Odierno:  Well I just think -- I haven't give up hope yet.  And maybe that's reaching a little bit.  But it is -- it is concerting to see the violence at the levels it's been and how it's grown throughout the year and it's really because of political disagreement and mistrust between the parties in Iraq, the fact that they simply don't trust themselves and they can't get to agreement and so it's allowing others to exploit this and it's increasing the violence.  And it really is difficult to watch.  


    National Iraqi News Agency reports that attorney Naser Ali al-Atabi was assassinated in Kut. Monday a Mosul sticky bombing killed a lawyer and left his brother injured. Yesterday  1 attorney was shot dead today in Mosul.  That's three attorneys assassinated in three days.

    That wasn't the only violence today.  NINA also notes a Haswa IED left two police officers injured, 1 person was shot dead in Ramadi and another was left injured, 1 Sahwa was shot dead in Ramadi, a Mosul home invasion left 1 police officer dead, a Baghdad bombing killed 1 member of a Sahwa's family and left three neighbors injured, and 1 employee of the Baghdad Mayor's office was shot dead in Baghdad.  All Iraq News adds that two severed heads were discovered in Tikrit -- one belonged to Sahwa leader Nashmi al-Fadam and the other was a relative.  In addition, the outlet notes a Mudkadiya bombing left 2 police officers dead. That's 11 reported dead today and six reported injured. Through Tuesday, Iraq Body Count notes 344 violent deaths in Iraq so far this month which means there was an average of 34.4 murders a day for the first ten days of December.


    In Friday's snapshot, we noted this Tweet:





  • That's Iraqi Zeidoun Alkinani and he's at the Pegamon Museum of Berlin noting the Babylonian Ishtar Gate.  Hyacinth Mascarenhas (PolicyMic) notes the Tweeted photo and other artifacts which should go back to their rightful owners including, at number 7, the Iraqi Jewish artifacts:


    The scholar Harold Rhode found thousands of moldy artifacts of Iraq's ancient and mostly dispersed Jewish population in the flooded basement of Saddam Hussein's service headquarters in Baghdad with the U.S. invasion force in 2003. He is now fighting to prevent his findings from being returned to the Iraqi government.
    Likening the return to "giving the personal effects of Jews killed in the Holocaust back to Germany," Rhode has even launched a campaign to halt the transfer and is supported by several American Jewish groups and members of Congress arguing that the findings belong to Iraqi Jews and not the Iraqi government.
    Currently on display at the National Archives in Washington through Jan. 5, the pieces include a 400-year-old Hebrew Bible, a Torah scroll fragment that includes parts of the Book of Genesis, a Zohar from 1815, a Babylonian Talmud from 1793, a lunar calendar in Hebrew and Arabic from 1972-3 and other books, personal papers, and sacred texts.


    So they're going back?  Lauren Markoe (Religion News Service) explains:


    It’s a question many Jews have been asking with increasing urgency as the time draws near — summer 2014 — when the documents, per an agreement between the American and Iraqi governments, are slated to return to Baghdad.
    Global organizations of Jews of Middle Eastern heritage, as well as scores of American Jewish leaders and key members of the House and Senate, have questioned the plan and tried to derail it, arguing that the U.S. never had the right to promise the archive’s return in the first place.
    “The argument was flawed, flawed on the premise that this archive is the cultural heritage of all Iraqis when it is in fact the patrimony of Iraqi Jews; and there is no Jewish community left in Iraq,” said Sarah Levin, executive director of San Francisco-based JIMENA, Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa.
    “I can’t fathom that under any circumstances that material that was taken should be returned to the people who took it,” Levin said.
    Of course, the government of Iraq today is not the government that looted the archive from Iraq’s Jews. But Rabbi Andrew Baker, director of international Jewish affairs at the American Jewish Committee, argues that the archive’s future should be determined in consultation with Jewish organizations and particularly the representatives of Jewish Iraqis — many of whom now live in Israel and the U.S.
    Despite negotiations among the State Department, members of Congress and Jewish community leaders, the latest information is that the archive will return to Iraq this summer, though it is first slated to spend some weeks at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.



    The property doesn't belong to Iraq and it never has.  As Shmuley Boteach (Algemeiner) has observed, "This is not something that belongs to the Iraqi government. It was looted by Saddam Hussein and should be returned to its rightful owner, the Jewish community of Iraq, who now find themselves mostly in Israel (between 250,000-400,000) and the United States. That the US is even considering returning the stolen collection is incredible. Our government contends that it made a commitment to the Iraqis before they took the documents to restore them. But you can’t make any commitments about property that doesn’t belong to you so the United States is not bound by its commitment." More and more, people are beginning to identify the property -- the rightful owners are stepping forward to identify the property.  Joe O'Connor (National Post) reports:


    Dr. Caroline Bassoon-Zaltzman was an exemplary student at Menahem Daniel Elementary school in Baghdad. She had a 94 in Arabic, 90 in math and science and 100 in English, grades that stood her first overall in her Grade 6 class and a point of youthful, scholarly pride, that the 56-year-old Iraqi-born Jew, now a Canadian physician living in suburban Toronto, had not really thought about for over 40 years until a friend and former classmate, Lily Shor, in Israel, sent her an email on Nov. 20 at 12:55 a.m.
    “Dear Caroline!!” the email reads. “Have you seen this??”

    “This” was a web link. Dr. Bassoon-Zaltzman clicked on it and up popped her Grade 6 report card, along with her school photo, two items that, unbeknownst to the top student at Menahem Daniel were recovered — along with thousands of other Jewish documents and books — from the flooded basement of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s secret police headquarters in Baghdad by American forces in May, 2003.
    [. . .]
    “I really felt violated seeing my report card because I knew the Iraqi secret police had no way of getting it unless they took it from our house,” Dr. Bassoon-Zaltzman says. “All I could think about was somebody being in the house I grew up in and stealing this document and storing it in the basement of the Mukhabarat — the secret police of Saddam Hussein.
    “Sending these items back to Iraq now would be like sending art that the Nazis looted from Europe’s Jews back to Germany. But it’s even worse, because I am nobody. I am not famous, and I am still alive, and there is no inherent value to these items. Nobody in Iraq is going to care about looking at documents and photos of Iraqi Jews that they don’t even know and that have no value to them, or the Iraqi government, or anyone — except the people they were stolen from.
    “It is my report card.”


    December 2nd, David S. Cloud (Los Angeles Times) reported on Harold Rhode's efforts to prevent the stolen property from being shipped to Iraq:

    Rhode has launched a campaign to halt the transfer, joined by a growing number of American Jewish groups and members of Congress, who argue that the materials belong to the Iraqi Jews they were taken from and their descendants, not to Iraq's government.
    For years, intelligence operatives working for Hussein and his predecessors apparently seized papers from synagogues and Jewish families, in periodic crackdowns or before the families would be allowed to emigrate.
    Why the materials, most of which document relatively mundane activities of Iraq's Jewish communities, were kept for decades in the security service headquarters is a mystery. Rhode attributes it partly to Hussein's mania for getting back at Israel.
    "By Saddam taking this material, it was like he was personally humiliating the Jews of the world and Israel," Rhode says. "So now are we going to return it to them?"

    In response to Cloud's report, two letters to the editors of the Los Angeles Times argue for the archives being returned to the Jewish community.

    Ethically and legally, the archives belong to the Jewish community.  There's also the common sense issues.  In Iraq, where would the wrongly returned archives go?

    Would they be hidden away.

    That's really all Nouri's Iraq knows how to do.  Just look at Iraq's national museum which is still closed to the public.  Abdul Jabbar Alattaby (Al-Monitor) reports:


    Although more than 10 years have passed since the transformative events of 2003 in Iraq, the fate of the Iraq Museum remains a mystery. News of it has all but disappeared. It is known to open its doors to diplomatic missions, but most Iraqis have never been inside the museum, which has been undergoing construction work, which has itself raised questions. Although there are workers in the museum, and although it was officially reopened in 2009, the museum remains closed to the public. With its director, Amira Edan, sometimes outright refusing to speak to the press, the museum is shrouded in mystery and secrecy. This is where my story of the museum began and enigmatically ended.
     
    Iraq's national museum isn't even open to the public -- despite multiple stunt openings that the world's press has covered over the last years.  But we're supposed to believe the country can house (stolen) documents of a people the government refused to protect?


    There was a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing today.  We have room for Senator Patty Murray's statement.  Tomorrow, we may cover the nonsense of the hearing -- which includes the nonsense of the Committee.  Alison Hickey's figures don't match the American Legion's.  There's a reason for that.  There's also a reason I'm not in the mood -- I don't feel like going back through the hearing the press ignored -- especially Murray's questions -- which explain how the backlog has 'dropped.' It's a shell game.  But if we go over today's hearing in tomorrow's snapshot, we will quote Hickey from before when she explained how the shell game would work.  Senator Murray serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and is the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee.  Her office issued the following today regarding the hearing:





    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                            CONTACT: Murray Press Office
    Wednesday, December 11, 2013                                                                           (202) 224-2834
     
    Senator Murray Presses VA Officials on Claims Backlog
     
    Recent report shows government shutdown forced furloughs of thousands of Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) employees, jeopardized October benefits for millions of veterans and their families, and slowed the VA’s progress on eliminating the claims backlog.
     
    WATCH hearing.
     
    (Washington, D.C.) – Today, during a hearing examining the Department of Veterans Affairs claims processing system, senior Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee member Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) expressed her frustration with the progress in reducing the claims backlog and stressed the importance of passing her budget agreement with Chairman Paul Ryan.
     
    “Ending the claims backlog and building a timely, accurate claims processing system is one of the absolute top priorities for our veterans,” said Senator Murray during the hearing.“So as VA continues to work to bring down the backlog, we can’t prevent them from doing their jobs.  That means keeping the government open.  As you know, Chairman Ryan and I announced our budget agreement last night. I cannot stress enough how important it is for everyone to support this agreement so that we can get away from governing by crisis, prevent another government shutdown in January, and protect our veterans from the serious harm that we saw in October.”
    According to VA testimony, the government shutdown in October forced VA to furlough 7,800 VBA employees, ended mandatory overtime for claims processors, and decreased claims production by an average of 1,400 claims per day.
     
    Sen. Murray has been a vocal critic of the claims backlog issues facing Seattle Regional Office over the years and continues to hear from veterans frustrated with the timeliness and accuracy problems with their claims. While the latest information seems to be improving, Sen. Murray will continue to push VA to address the underlying issues with staffing and processing at the regional office so Washington state veterans can count on long-term improvement.
     
    Senator Murray’s full remarks:
     
    “Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate you holding this hearing.  Ending the claims backlog and building a timely, accurate claims processing system is one of the absolute top priorities for our veterans. 
     
    “And I continue to hear frequently from veterans in my home state of Washington that they are still waiting far too long for their claims to be completed.
     
    “I know getting this right is a top priority for the Department.  And I understand this is a complex problem that has no single easy solution. 
     
    “So I am encouraged by the steps VA has taken so far, but we still have a long way to go.
     
    “For example, VA’s initiative to expedite the oldest claims was a good step.  However, I have heard repeatedly from veterans that they were confused and frustrated with the provisional rating process. 
     
    “Some believed their claims had been flat-out rejected and others did understand they have a year to submit additional evidence. 
     
    “Secretary Hickey, we need to hear more from you today about how VA will improve outreach and communication with veterans so that future initiatives do not cause more confusion.
     
    “And while the numbers are moving in the right direction, we need to know the necessary structural changes are being made as well. 
     
    “This is especially important in handling the more complex claims.  The recent testimony by the Office of Inspector General shows some examples of these problems. 
     
    “Though it is not surprising these claims take longer to rate, these are also claims for veterans who need their benefits the most. 
     
    “So as VA continues to work to bring down the backlog, we can’t prevent them from doing their jobs.  That means keeping the government open. 
     
    “The entirely unnecessary shutdown a handful of Republican Members forced us into earlier this year: forced VA to furlough 7,800 V.B.A. employees, ended mandatory overtime for claims processors, and as Secretary Shinseki testified, it decreased claims production by an average of 1,400 claims per day.
     
    “As you know, Chairman Ryan and I announced our budget agreement last night. I cannot stress enough how important it is for everyone to support this agreement so that we can get away from governing by crisis, prevent another government shutdown in January, and protect our veterans from the serious harm that we saw in October.
     
    “So I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues and with you, Secretary Hickey, towards meeting these challenges and seeing that each and every veteran receives the benefits that they have earned.”
    ###
     
     
    ---
    Meghan Roh
    Press Secretary | New Media Director
    Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
    Mobile: (202) 365-1235
    Office: (202) 224-2834






     
     
     
    RSS Feed for Senator Murray's office












    The lying government

    $
    0
    0
    This is from a piece David A. Andelman wrote for U.S.A. Today:

    At the end of World War II, there were more than 130,000 Jews in Iraq—a quarter of the population of Baghdad. By the time of the Six Day War in 1967, that number had dwindled to barely 3,000. Today there are at most seven Jews left — each fearful even of disclosing his identity — indeed not even a minion, the minimum number (ten) required for Jewish worship. But abroad, they constitute an enormous community, united under the banner of the World Organization of Jews from Iraq, according to its president, Maurice Shohet who himself fled Iraq in 1970 at the age of 21. The largest single Iraqi Jewish community, outside of Israel, is in the United States. And this is where the Iraqi diaspora wants these artifacts to remain.
    Just why the Iraqi government wants these items returned is an open question—likely a pastiche of the public position authorities have expressed to Urman, that it wants to showcase the "contributions of the Jewish people to Iraq," and the reality that they are aware of their enormous and unchallenged value.
    "From our point of view, they were taken from us and as a result we are the official heirs of the material," Urman observes. "This is not like material looted from national museums. It was taken by force by intelligence agents."
    And now, some substantial force is being brought to bear on their behalf. On November 13, a bipartisan group of 47 House Democrats and Republicans signed a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging the State Department to "facilitate the return of these items to their rightful owners or their descendants, and not to the government of Iraq." Why? "The government of Iraq has no legitimate claim to these artifacts," the letter concludes.


    In the snapshot today, C.I. has to cover an important issue and there was not room for the artifacts so she slid the above over to me.

    I hope you read the snapshot.

    Back in April, C.I. covered a hearing and noted something awful taking place.

    No one wanted to notice it.

    This new policy was a shell game, an effort to trick veterans and the American people into believing things were improving for veterans.

    The shell game got exposed Wednesday so C.I. is reporting on that in the snapshot and she is going very slowly in the hopes that even the press can keep up.

    There is no real reduction taking place in the backlog.  They are just being moved to the appeals process and out of the backlog.

    Anyway, the government just keeps lying.

    However, I am hopeful that we can force it to turn the Jewish artifacts over to their rightful owners and not the government of Iraq.

    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:


    Thursday, December 12, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, Moqtada notes the League of Righteous is working for Nouri, Nouri secures more weapons to terrorize the Iraqi people, the US Veterans Affairs Dept has been running a shell game tricking the press (no real skill required for that) among others, and more.



    Let's start with nonsense.  The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee which held a hearing yesterday.  Veterans are grumbling about the footsie the Committee is playing with the VA and at some point the press will have to deal with that because the anger's only mounting.  Every veteran I spoke with yesterday that attended the hearing noted the nonsense from the Committee and specifically singled out Senator Sherrod Brown's ridiculous statements about how VA didn't need a lecture, they know how important it is to solve this problem.

    Oh, no, they need many lectures.  Committee Chair Bernie Sanders can take comfort in the fact that Brown's sucking up distracted from Sanders' own problems with regards to confronting VA.  In the future, if Brown's going to have a future in the Congress (that's in doubt, he's close to losing veterans' votes and as we saw with Jim Webb, when you lose that support, you need to announce that you're not running for re-election), he's going to need to stop sucking up to the VA in public hearings.  Brown's lucky in that he's not facing re-election until 2018.  He's unlucky in that he's now on the radar and every move he makes regarding veterans will be closely tracked.  And Ohio is one of the worst states on the number of days to get a claim adjudicated.


    Let's listen to Chair Sanders at yesterday's Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing.

    Chair Bernie Sanders:  Nonetheless this Committee, at our hearing in mid-March, heard about the unacceptably large number of claims that were pending and the numerous challenges confronting the Department. It is my view, and the view I believe, of every member of this committee that no veteran should have to wait years to have his or her claim adjudicated. Today, as I understand it, the VA is going to give us some good news about significant progress made in this area. When we last met to discuss this issue, there were over 896,000 claims in the inventory. Of that number more than 632,000 or 70 percent were backlogged – or pending longer than VA’s goal of 125 days. That is a staggering number. Today, as I understand, those numbers look much different and are much improved. The number of claims pending longer than 125 days – or officially part of the backlog – has dropped to just over 395,000 claims or 57 percent of the total inventory. That is a large number but it is significant. The total number of pending claims has dropped to its lowest level since July of 2012 at slightly less than 694,000 claims. Let me be clear – many challenges remain and I will touch on some of them later in my statement. We must, however, begin today by . . .


    Blah blah blah.  And he kept talking about a March hearing.

    If you're talking backlog, March doesn't mean a damn thing and your citing it makes you look silly.


    Granted, the April hearing wasn't a Senate VA hearing.  That's probably why it was an important hearing. April 23rd, Senator Patty Murray, as Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, chaired a hearing.  It is the most important hearing for veterans in 2013.  It was, it remains, the most important hearing.  Committee Chair Murray, of course, is the former Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and she continues to serve on the Senate VA Committee.

    In real time, we covered the pertinent exchange at length.  I'm both (a) not in the mood and (b) not going to waste space on it.  So we'll do a small excerpt.

    For those who don't know, just to set this up, the VA claims system had a huge backlog and, at this hearing, Shinseki and the always laughable Alison Hickey explained a new way of doing things.  And the press just ignored it and continues to.  It's a shell game.  Let's go to the excerpt.

    Chair Patty Murray:  As I mentioned, you have a new announcement of a new initiative to expedite claims that have been waiting for over a year.  And that's encouraging and I'm glad to see that the Department's taking action but I do have some questions about how it is going to be implemented.  And I wanted to ask you, if the VA determines the veteran's final rating is lower than the provisional rating, will the Department seek to recover money that's already been paid to that veteran?

    Secretary Eric Shinseki:  Madam Chairman, uh, you know, that's a question.  I, uh, I-I, what I would say is, I -- our -- historically, when we've established a standard for a veteran, we've usually stayed with that and, uh, let me call on Secretary Hickey here but my-my intent is that the provisional rating that's provided will be on those issues for which we have clarity and documentation and we can render a, uh, a decision.  For issues that, uh, where documentation isn't provided, those are the issues that remain open up to a year, for veterans to locate, with our help even, documentation that would, uh, allow us to,uh, make a decision there.  Uh, Secretary Hickey.

    Allison Hickey: Chairman Murray, thank you for the question, for your, uh, interest in the initiative which we think is, uh, really important to, uh, ensure that we're, uh, taking care of those veterans who have waited the longest while we completed the more than 260,000 Agent Orange claims to take care of our Vietnam veterans over the last two and a half years.  We-we, uh - We are using the provisions that allow us to make good decisions so we will continue, uhm, under this provisional criteria to have -- to use service treatment, to use private medical records, to use the information available to our, uhm, on our veterans in terms of the nature and character of their service.  So all the similar evidence we have used in previous decisions we will use again to ensure that we, uh, don't make any of those kinds of decisions.  I don't expect to see any of those decisions, uh, where we overcompensate for, uh, for a claim.  Uhm, the other thing that that we will do is we will, uh, keep the reason for the provisional decision, we put a really huge safety net under every one of our veterans, we're, uh, going to keep the record for a whole year there -- the ability for our veterans to come back with additional evidence.  Uh, uhm, uh, and we will keep asking if --

    Chair Patty Murray:  So the additional year will only be to provide information to have an additional claim, not to lower the claim?

    Allison Hickey:  Uh, th-the, uh, the reason for the year is to allow to increase the rating, uh, if necessary so I think in -- The advantage is our veterans for the additional year.  Uh, and then they still have after that, the same appeal, uh, processes that they've had in the past.  So we don't anticipate, uh, having, uhm, uh, conditions where we overpay veterans under this initiative.


    In real time, reporting on that hearing the day it took place, I wrote:


    What the VA is proposing is that a temporary rating be created.  This temporary rating may become permanent.  Or it might increase or it might decrease.  If you're a veteran qualifying for some small-business program based on your rating, how does this impact that?  Hickey gave no response about that or how the temporary claim would effect anything.
    Now I think she's an idiot who should be fired.  But can you be that stupid that when asked a direct question, you completely miss it?  Maybe so.  Maybe Allison Hickey is The Dumbest Person In The World.  However, I just see her as deeply dishonest.
    As deeply dishonest is the new program that's being discussed.
    Murray is correct.  This is going mean "increasing the workload by requiring two" or more "ratings decisions instead of one." And this is only more clear when Hickey asserts that after a veteran receives a rating he or she finds less than satisfactory and they return with more information, Hickey's words, "we will expedite that claim to the front of the line."
    What's really going on here?
    The VA has bad press because they've not eliminated the claims backlog, they have not reduced the backlog.  They have been given everything they've asked for.  Congress has actually spent the last years asking them, "Is that all you need?  What else can we do to help you with this?"  VA has insisted they had all they needed.
    So this is VA's problem.  At the hearing, Senator Tammy Baldwin observed, "Veterans don't want to hear about new claims or new processes, they want results and so do I."  She's correct.  However, this program's not about veterans, it's about the press.  This is a distraction that will create the illusion of something new which, the VA hopes, will garner good press.
    In what world, when you're failing at the claims system, are you allowed to create a new system that will pull more employees away?



    There were members of the press at that hearing.

    They ignored this significant development/change.

    They have since falsely reported on the 'success' of the VA with the backlog.

    And Chair Sanders was praising them yesterday.  'Oh, goodness, you're reducing the backlog.'

    No, they're not.

    They're slapping on 'provisional decisions' to rush these through so they can move them into the 'decided' column.  Even though they're not.

    I have no problem with a hasty VA decision -- which comes with a real appeal process.  I have no fear that veterans are trying to game the system.  Unlike Senator Jon Tester, I don't have visions of them smoking and drinking and see that as abuse of the system.  I think -- whether they smoke, drink, dip, what have you -- they're trying to get the health care they were promised.  Promises were made, promises need to be kept.

    But the provisional 'ratings'?  The VA can change them themselves -- even if the veteran doesn't appeal.  Why are these temporary calls being issued?

    It's a shell game to move the numbers without really doing so.

    "Reducing the backlog at the expense of accuracy is not acceptable," Chair Sanders declared Wednesday morning.

    Two days after the April 23rd hearing, Mark Flatten (Washington Examiner) did something none of his peers could do, he reported on veterans fears (justifiable) about the VA's new rating:

    Under the new plan, VA will issue a "provisional" rating within 60 days on cases two years old or more. Veterans would then have a year to submit new evidence to increase their rating, or ask that the rating be made final so they can file an appeal.
    The apparent catch is that issuing the provisional rating may lead to creation of a new case, thus letting VA "close" the old one when in fact the veteran's claim remains outstanding.
    Ronald Robinson, president of the AFGE union local that represents VA claims workers in Columbia, S.C., said the new rules are nothing more than an effort to make the agency's sinking statistics look better.



    Chair Sanders declared at yesterday's hearing, "Veterans are still waiting too long for a decision.  And the Inspector General to find issues with the quality, with the quality of the work.  I am concerned by the most recent IG findings which found significant problems with the provisional decisions reviewed at the Los Angeles regional office."

    Imagine that.

    Problems with the provisional ratings?

    Who could have seen that happening?



    I said we'd cover a December House Veterans Affairs Subcomittee and I never did.  Sorry.  I don't like writing about this topic.  I can go on over and over about Tim Arango's September 2012 report for the New York Times where US President Barack Obama sent another "unit of Army Special Operations soldiers" into Iraq in the fall of 2012 -- so much for the 'withdrawal.'

    But this nonsense?  Senators were present when this new 'system' was announced.  The press was as well.  And yet they've both failed on this issue.  Veterans groups have raised concerns and yet both groups continue to fail and every other month some mouth breathing press loser is trumpeting 'the numbers' and 'the reductions' and never noting provisional ratings or what's really going on.


    At the December 4th hearing, the VA's Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Audits and Evaluations, Sondra F. McCauley was one of the witnesses.

    Deputy Assistant IG Sondra McCauley:  On April 19, 2013, VBA implemented a special initiative to address the oldest pending disability claims in the current backlog. VBA stated the intent of the initiative was to work all claims pending for more than 2 years within 60 days, beginning April 19, 2013. VAROs were directed to devote all RVSRs and as many Veterans Service Representatives as needed to ensure all claims pending over 2-year old were processed and completed. According to VBA, RVSRs were to immediately process the 2-year old claims based on the available evidence in the veterans' claims folders. Further, rating decisions produced were to be considered provisional ratings unless all evidence in support of the claims had already been received (and the claim was considered ready-to-rate) or the ratings assigned provided the highest evaluation for the particular diagnostic code for each claimed issue. However, if medical examination reports or other Federal records were needed, these older claims could not be processed as provisional rating decisions.  During one review errors were identified at the Los Angeles VARO when leadership provided conflicting guidance on the proper procedures for processing provisional rating decisions. We determined 10 -- 91 percent --  of 11 provisional rating decisions we reviewed were not compliant with VBA's guidance related to the 2-year claims processing initiative. Eight of the 10 provisional decisions were determined to be non- compliant because the rating decisions were made without supporting VA medical examinations as required. One claim was decided without Service Treatment Records, which are considered Federal records and must be obtained by VARO staff prior to rendering a provisional rating decision. In the remaining case, the provisional rating was controlled by a future diary that scheduled the claim for review in 2 years instead of 1 year as required.  Requiring a rating decision to be rendered before a medical examination is obtained as a basis for a decision is in conflict with VBA policy. On May 14, 2013, conflicting guidance was sent to the Los Angeles VARO staff via an e-mail from the VARO Director’s office. The guidance incorrectly stated all 2-year old cases requiring a medical examination must have the medical examinations ordered by May 15, 2013. This conflicts with VBA guidance because if a medical examination was required to decide a claim, the claim could not be completed as a provisional decision until staff obtained the necessary medical examinations. The guidance also incorrectly indicated that any claims with medical examinations not completed by June 3, 2013, were to be decided by a provisional rating.
    We are concerned similar errors may exist among other provisional rating decisions completed by the Los Angeles VARO after the conflicting guidance was issued. VBA provided data that revealed the Los Angeles VARO completed 532 provisional rating decisions between April 19 – June 19, 2013. VARO staff completed 470 of those 532 provisional decisions claims after the conflicting guidance was disseminated on May 14, 2013. All 10 provisional rating decisions that we identified as non-compliant were completed after this date. We recommended that VBA review all of the provisional rating decisions completed by the Los Angeles VARO after the conflicting guidance was issued to ensure they are accurate.


    So in the only examination thus far, 90% of the provisional ratings in the LA area did not follow the (limited) procedures and are most likely incorrect.  The new rating is prompting the IG to call for all of the LA area's provisional ratings to be reviewed.

    "In fact, it appears the employees were encouraged to violate VA policies," Senator Johnny Isakson noted yesterday of the IG findings on the LA area.  He noted that the IG recommendation of a review of all provisional rating decisions had been completed and the VA founds  "100s that contained errors."

    Hundreds.  Plural.  And we're only talking 532 decisions.

    Senator Patty Murray noted what she's hearing from veterans in Washington state, "[. . .] I have heard  repeatedly from veterans that they were confused and frustrated with the provisional rating process. Some believe their claims have been flat out rejected and others didn't understand that they have a year to submit additional evidence. Secretary Hickey, we need to hear more from you today about how the VA's going to improve outreach and communication with veterans [. . .]" [Note, at the end of yesterday's snapshot, the press release issued by Senator Murrary's office can be read.]

    "During Committee oversight," Chair Sanders declared yesterday morning, "my staff has identified clear and unmistakable errors in provisional rating decisions."

    Appearing before the Committee was the VA's Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey.  In her opening remarks, Hickey declared, "In June, VA completed the first phase of the initiative, which focused on all claims that had been pending over 2 years. While some claims from that category were still outstanding due to the unavailability of a claimant and other unique circumstances, approximately 99 percent of these 2-year claims (over 67,000) had been processed for Veterans, eliminating those claims from the backlog. Since that milestone, VBA claims processors have focused on completing the claims of Veterans who have been waiting over 1 year for a decision. VA has processed approximately 96 percent of all 513,000 claims pending over 1 year."

    Chair Bernie Sanders noted Shinseki's proposed goal for 2015, 125 claims processed within 125 days processed with 98% accuracy.  Sanders wanted to know if VA was "on track to achieve the Secretary's goal" by 2015.  Hickey responded that "we are on track barring any implications to our full" budget request for 2014 Fiscal Year, she stated they would meet the goal.  We'll note this exchange.

    Chair Bernie Sanders:  In April of this year, VA rolled out an initiative to provide decisions on the claims that have been pending the longest.  While I appreciate VA's efforts to provide the veterans that have been waiting the longest with decisions, I continue to have concerns about this initiative.  The IG, the Inspector General's, recent findings regarding provisional ratings decisions at the Los Angeles regional office which found a number of errors was very, very concerning.  I understand the office corrected the inappropriate guidance that was issued to staff in June and is now in the process of correcting any errors in claims which may have been improperly adjudicated.  So this IG report is very, very concerning to many of us.  Can you explain to this Committee the actions that have been taken to remedy the problems in Los Angeles. 

    Allison Hickey: Uh, Chairman, I absolute can do that but let me first --

    I'm not Bernie Sanders.  I don't give a damn about Allison Hickey whose ass should have been fired long ago.  She was asked a question.  I'm not going to waste my time including her distractions and her efforts to avoid answering by eating up time.She said "the regional office knew in one week." In one week of implementation, the regional office knew. May 14th

    The obvious question there is, if they knew one week after it was implemented, (that would be May 21st) why did the IG find errors June 19th?

    If, as Hickey stammer, "they themselves identified within a week," why weren't they fixed.  How incompetent is management at the VA?

    I guess the answer to that question was staring at the Committee members (Allison Hickey).

    3 veterans at the hearing that I spoke with yesterday self-identified as Democrats but stated that maybe the answer for veterans is to have one party in charge of the Senate and another in charge of the White House?  It was felt that the Committee is largely toothless, offers supposed indignation ("weakly stated," one veteran said) and then smooths over everything with ridiculous comments like Brown's that a lecture is not needed. It was noted that Ranking Member Richard Burr would be better right now as Chair Burr because he's not "playing footsie" with the VA.  Let's move to some of his exchange.

    Ranking Member Richard Burr corrected Hickey's claims (lies) that the leadership knew in one week of the LA problems and immediately addressed them.  Under strong questioning from Burr, Hickey did admit that the same mistakes continued to happen for weeks


    Ranking Member Richard Burr:  Were provisional decisions included in determining the number of claims VA has completed during the calendar year 2013?

    Allison Hickey:  I'm going to ask -- Well -- She's just told me "yes" so I will answer "yes" on behalf of Deputy Under Secretary.  There were 14,000 of those claims which were 3% of all of the claims we had done in the oldest claim initiative which was 67,000 two-years-and-older 512,000 one-year-and-older.

    Ranking Member Richard Burr:  You - you highlighted 90% quality or accuracy, you used both words.  Last week, the American Legion testified and I quote, "VA's accuracy statistics from the Monday accuracy reports are not consitent with the review of recently adjudicated claims as conducted by the American Legion.  According to the Legion, they reviewed 260 decisions and found errors in 55%.  Also National Veterans Legal Service Program testified that current error rate was somewhere between 30 and 40% -- in some RO's it's higher.  Are they wrong?

    Allison Hickey: Uhm, uh, so Senator Burr, they -- It's an apple and orange discussion, if I may have a moment to clarify that. First of all, let me just state for the record and for every time I talk on this subject anywhere: We will not trade production for quality. It is an and equation.  Both must rise which is why it's 125 and 98.  But there is a very different way the IG and others are looking at issues then we do.  I will tell you that our process has been validated by an external agency --

    Ranking Member Richard Burr: Ma'am, let me ask my question again: Are they wrong?

    Allison Hickey: Uhm.  Uh-uh-uh.  [Laughing] Senator Burr, they are right for the way they look at it, we are right for the way we measure it which is statistically --

    Ranking Member Richard Burr: General, General.  They're the customer, aren't they?

    Allison Hickey:  Actually, the veteran, the family member and the survivor are my customers, Senator.

    Ranking Member Richard Burr: Yeah and these are the organizations that represent them --

    Allison Hickey:  They are, Senator 

    Ranking Member Richard Burr:  -- and -- Should this Committee believe that there's any VSO in America that believes that the accuracy or the quality is at 97% right now?


    Allison Hickey:  Uhhhh, Senator Burr, I would ask you to ask them for their opinions, I can't speak for them.

    Ranking Member Richard Burr: They testified on it. But that's not necessarily something that computes. 

    Allison Hickey:  Senator Burr, I have a statistically valid validated process that goes further --

    Ranking Member Richard Burr: I asked -- I asked a very simple question: Are they wrong?  And I guess the answer is "yes" because you're saying your statistics are different than what their review has been. 

    Allison Hickey: They have a different process, Senator.

    Ranking Member Richard Burr:  Okay.  According to VA's Monday Morning Workload Reports, there are at least 266,000 appeals that have not been resolved. That's about 100,000 more than were pending five years ago although appeals are not counted in VA's backlog statistics, they represent individuals who have yet to know what benefits they will receive. Do the performance standards for regional office directors and service center managers include how quickly and accurately they're handling appeals

    Allison Hickey:  So Senator Burr the answer is -- the simple answer to your question is yes, they do.  However, I would also tell you that a veteran does know our opinion to an answer on their claim.  Uhm, uh, they get and, uh, many cases, they are deriving resources uh-uh associated with that claim already even though they might be appealing only a part in piece of-of our decision.

    Ranking Member Richard Burr:  So you have a metrics that you use to determine this?

    Allison Hickey: We absolutely have metrics on --

    Ranking Member Richard Burr:  Would you provide that metrics for the Committee?

    Allison Hickey:  We will do that, sir.

    Ranking Member Richard Burr:  On average, how long have those 266,000 appeals been pending?

    Allison Hickey:  Uh, Senator, the Chairman cites some, uh, 800 days so I will, uh, accept th--

    Ranking Member Richard Burr:  Do you track, does the VA track that?

    Allison Hickey:  We do, Senator Burr. 

    Ranking Member Richard Burr:  Okay.  At what point is an appeal -- is an appeal considered to be backlogged?

    Allison Hickey:  We do not have a backlog number for appeals.


    We need to stop it there.  But hopefully you're getting what the press didn't.  The VA does not include "appeals" in the backog.  In April, they came up with the 'clever' (dishonest) policy to just slap decisions on claims -- provisional ratings.  And that moved them out of the backlog.  Every one of those 'provisional ratings' may be appealed.  The VA doesn't care, it doesn't count appeals as part of the 'backlog.'

    You'd care if you went from an unacceptable 200 day wait to an 800 day wait.

    But the press whores for the VA.  They're too stupid to do their damn job.  This was all apparent at the April 23rd hearing.  I'm not a genius and it was obvious to me then.  This is a con game and veterans are getting very outraged while it continues and people like Senator Sherrod Brown look the other way and insist that the VA doesn't need a lecture.

    On veterans, Leo Shane III (Stars and Stripes) reports Iraq War veteran Patrick Murphy will be hosting Taking The Hill on MSNBC starting this Sunday.  Currently, this is an as-needed program meaning it will appear as a series of specials.  (One aired last month.)  Murphy served in the House of Representatives after returning from Iraq.  He heroically led the overturning of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  Hopefully, he will show similar strength and leadership on the airwaves.


    Let's move to Iraq.  Zhu Ningzhu (Xinhua) reports Iraq has signed a contract to purchase "24 multi-role light fighters from South Korea" to help fight 'terrorism.' 'Terrorism,' in Nouri's Iraq, means the Iraqi people.  Nouri is quoted stating, "Today we have signed a contract to purchase the Korean 24 T- 50IQ aircraft for training and military operations. The deal signals a start of enhancing the performance of the Ministries of Defense and Interior in the aspects of defending the country and fighting terrorism." Nouri, due to his illegal power grab, currently is the Minister of the Interior (police) and the Minister of Defense (military).

    The big news out of Iraq today?  All Iraq News reports:

    The leader of the Sadr Trend, Muqtada al-Sadr, described the Asaeb Ahlulhaq as “Governmental Militias.”
    During his response on a question from his followers over an operation done by a group of Asaeb wearing military uniform to kidnap citizens in Diyala province  , al-Sadr said “Yes. They are governmental militia and you should boycott them and sue them if they harm you or complain to their tribes.”

    This is the League of Righteous.  Let's drop back to July 9, 2011:

    Earlier we were mentioning the little scamp Ali al-Lami who was killed a few weeks back. A terrorist, in fact. The US military held him for awhile. They held others with the Shi'ite thug group the League of Righteous. They're responsible for the deaths of 5 American service members. Maybe more. But 5 they are known to have killed. And Barack let their leader and some of his followers go in a deal in the summer of 2009 -- a deal that the families of the 5 fallen soldiers were not consulted on or even given a heads up to -- because Barack didn't want to be president of the United States. That was too small for Barry. He needed -- his ego needed -- a world stage. So when the British needed something to get their 5 citizens kidnapped by the League freed, Barry said, "Screw dead Americans who were killed doing a job their government ordered them to do, I'm going to free the League -- this rag-tag group of killers -- because I don't give a damn about the safety of Iraqis and because I want to get in good with England." 
    So Barry released them and, as usual from Princess Tiny Meat, his 'grand gesture' fell quickly. Because the addiction to the Kool-Aid was still so high in 2009, let's drop back we'll drop back to the June 9, 2009 snapshot with the realization that some who looked the other way in real time will now be outraged:

    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."




    Agreed. Not only did Barry betray the fallen, he demonstrated yet again no one should trust him at the adult table by himself. His 'big' deal resulted in only one living British citizen released. Three corpses were released.
    The fifth kidnapped victim?
    Though Barry's 'big' deal was supposed to free all five, the League, years later, is now insisting they want a new deal (and figure Barry's just the pushover to give it to them?). Al Mada reports they have issued a statement where they savage the US government for not honoring -- and quickly honoring -- the agreement made with them. As a result, they say Alan McMenemy will not be released.
    Peter Moore, the only one released alive, was a computer tech working in Iraq. Four British bodyguards were protecting him. The bodyguards were McMenemy, Jason Swindlehurst, Alec MacLachlan and Jason Cresswell. The families of the four have continued to publicly request that Alan McMenemy be released. 
    They condemn the "procrastionation" of the US government after the deal was made and state that a promise was also broken when "US forces did not stop attacks" -- apparently Barack made very grand promises -- so now Alan McMenemy will not be released. The statement is credited to Akram al-Ka'bi.
    What the statement really does is demonstrate what many condemned in 2009: The US government, the administration, entered into an agreement that did not benefit the US or Iraq. They freed known killers from prison. Killers of Iraqis, killers of American citizens. There was nothing to be gained by that act for Iraq or the US. At some point, history will ask how Barack Obama thought he was fulfilling his duties of commander in chief by making such an ignorant move?


    The most important recent report by the New York Times on Asaib al-Haq was about Nouri al-Maliki (prime minister and chief thug of Iraq)  supporting them.  Tim Arango (New York Times) broke that story:




    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.


    As cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr notes, the League of Righteous is working for Nouri's government.


    The violence continues today in Iraq. NINA notes that a fahter and sun were kidnapped in Salaheddin Province by men "wearing military uniforms."


    In addition, National Iraqi News Agency reports that Mohammed Qoja (assistant to the Governor of Salaheddin Province) survived an assassination attempt which left 3 bodyguards dead (two more are missing),  a Baghdad suicide bomber claimed the lives of 5 Iraqi soldiers and left twelve more injured,  Sahwa leader Sheikh Saleh al-Dulaimi was shot dead leaving his Ramadi home, a Baquba roadside bombing left three people injured, 1 person was shot dead outside his Baquba home,a Baghdad sticky bombing claimed 1 life, a bombing near a Baghdad grocery store claimed 1 life and left four more injured, another Bahgdad bombing near a grocery store left eight people injured, a Tikrit armed attack left 1 police officer dead and his son injured, a Ramadi armed attack left 3 people dead and one police officer injured, and a police shot dead 2 suspects in Ramadi,



    Supposedly, Parliamentary elections will take place April 30th.  Yesterday All Iraq News quoted MP Jawad al-Hasnawi stating, "I do not think that Maliki will get the third term as the PM of Iraq due to the current situations and the security deterioration in addition to the floods." Mustafa Habib (Niqash) examined the political situation in Iraq last Thursday:



    As political parties prepare for upcoming general elections, some very important alliances are falling apart. Shiite Muslim parties allied in the current governing coalition led by PM Nouri-al-Maliki say they will campaign alone - and they won’t promise al-Maliki another term. Amid a surge in sectarian violence, could the country finally be entering a post-sectarian political era?  


    Prominent Shiite Muslim politicians in Baghdad have confessed that there is one major reason why the previously strong alliance of Shiite Muslim parties is breaking up. This alliance was what allowed current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to form his ruling coalition, the State of Law bloc. But now, as political parties start negotiating partnerships and jockeying for position ahead of the upcoming general elections, scheduled for April 2014, the formerly strong Shiite Muslim alliances have fallen apart.


    A special meeting was held in Baghdad on Nov. 18 at which all member parties of al-Maliki’s alliance were present. A statement was issued afterwards declaring, “Shiite Muslim parties are enthusiastic about competing in the coming elections together”. But this seems to have been spin: The reality on the ground is very different.


    “The State of Law bloc has asked that all other parties that want to enter into an alliance with it agree ahead of elections that if they win, the future Prime Minister will come from the Dawa party and that that party will not nominate anyone other than Nouri al-Maliki,” a senior politician, who did not want to be named, told NIQASH. “This is why the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and the Sadrist bloc are avoiding any such alliance.”


    The strongest Shiite Muslim parties in Iraq are al-Maliki’s Dawa party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, or ISCI, headed by cleric Ammar al-Hakim and the Sadrist bloc, headed by another cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. There are also other minor Shiite Muslim parties such as the National Reform Trend headed by former Prime Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, and the Islamic Virtue Party, or Fadhila, headed by controversial Najaf-based cleric, Mohammed Musa al-Yaqoubi.


    Both the Sadrist bloc and the ISCI seem firm about their intentions not to enter into an alliance with al-Maliki’s party again. Both al-Hakim and al-Sadr have been critical of al-Maliki’s government, with al-Sadr being very harsh, very publicly and al-Hakim tending to be quietly critical. 













    Give him amnesty

    $
    0
    0
    John Miller (CBS News) reports:

    CBS News learned Thursday that the information National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has revealed so far is just a fraction of what he has. In fact, he has so much, some think it is worth giving him amnesty to get it back.
    Rick Ledgett is the man who was put in charge of the Snowden leak task force by Gen. Keith Alexander, who heads the NSA. The task force's job is to prevent another leak like this one from happening again. They're also trying to figure out how much damage the Snowden leaks have done, and how much damage they could still do.

    I honestly do not care how or why Mr. Snowden would get amnesty, I just want to see him get it.

    I do not see him as a crook or criminal.

    I see Ed Snowden as a hero. 

    And a functioning government would agree.

    We are having conversations now because of the actions Mr. Snowden took.

    We are only starting to get a picture of how intrusive our government has been and how illegally it has been conducting itself.

    As a country, as a democracy, we owe Ed Snowden a great deal.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    Friday, December 13, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, Sahwa becomes more of a public menace, State of Law says they will only support one person to be prime minister (guess who), US Secretary of State John Kerry insists to Congress that the location of 7 Ashraf community members is classified, the stolen Jewish archives get some attention, and more.


    As Stacy Lattisaw observed in "Love on a Two Way Street" (written by Sylvia Robinson and Bert Keyes):

    How could I be so blind
    To give up love the very first time
    To be fooled is a hurting thing 
    To be loved and fooled
    Is a darn shame


    Poor College Democrats, it's such a darn shame to be made such a fool of.

    Anticipating their post collegiate years and a lifetime of whoring, College Democrats serves up a ridiculous column in the Badger Herald which includes:

    Just more than four years ago, Americans saw no end to the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thousands of troops remained abroad, although former President George W. Bush had already declared, "Mission Accomplished." In the last four years, President Barack Obama has solidified his role on the international stage as hard on terror, while maintaining a more logical and diplomatic approach.[. . .]. During the Obama administration, we saw the historic end to the decade-long war in Iraq that took the lives of many American troops.

    It's a darn shame.

    First, Bully Boy Bush did not "declare" mission accomplished.  It was on a sign (that the White House prepared and ordered hung behind him for the cameras).  Second, that had nothing to do with Afghanistan.  Barack has not maintained "a more logical and diplomatic approach" (his many murders with The Drone War alone disprove that claim).  Third, what "historic end to the decade-long war in Iraq"?

    David King (Akron Beacon Journal) observes today:

    Here's a typical Obama quote on the subject from November 1st, 2012:
    "...the war in Iraq is over, the war in Afghanistan is winding down, Al Qaeda is decimated, Osama Bin Laden is dead".
    Not quite so, Mr. Obama.
    The Iraq War is not over. We are just no longer involved in it. It rages on.
    And Al Qaeda is not decimated either. Far from it:
    Ten years after the capture of Saddam Hussein, Iraq is at risk of becoming a failed state again as al-Qaeda reclaims vast swathes of the country.

    Friday’s anniversary of the Iraqi dictator's arrest sees the country still struggling with his legacy, with al-Qaeda launching a fresh campaign of terrorist atrocities from new territory carved out in western and northern Iraq.


    The Iraq War has not ended for the Iraqi people.  How sad that College Democrats elected to be so xenophobic and self-centered.  When I was in college, fair or unfair, we expected that sort of behavior from Republicans.  We weren't xenophobic jingoists.

    To be fooled is a hurting thing 
    To be loved and fooled
    Is a darn shame


    And, we were also literate.  College Democrats don't know how to read these days?

    Not only does the illegal war continue in Iraq but it does so with US forces.  That 2011 'withdrawal' (drawdown)?  It was followed in the fall of 2012 by what?   note Tim Arango (New York Times) reported in Septmeber 2012 (a year after the 'withdrawal'):

     
    Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions. At the request of the Iraqi government, according to General Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence.        


    So quick to offer whorish talking points, so slow to recognize facts.

    Sad, sad College Democrats.

    To be fooled is a hurting thing 
    To be loved and fooled
    Is a darn shame


    It is a darn shame.

    But it's also so much worse if you're an Iraqi living in the continued violence of the continued war.


    EFE reports, "Eighteen men - 15 of them Iranian - were slain Friday by an armed group while they were working on a gas pipeline that runs from Iranian territory to a power plant in eastern Iraq, a source in the Iraqi security forces told Efe." CNN adds, "Gunman ambushed the workers with small arms fire, authorities said." Reuters quotes worker Ibrahem Aziz who as injured in the attack, "Three of them got out of a car and started firing on the workers inside and outside the trench." Aziz was one of seven workers injured in the attack.  BBC News notes five of the injured were Iranians and two were Iraqis.


    But don't worry, College Democrats didn't shed a tear, they were not troubled, they were too busy living in Bliss in the state of Ignorance.

    NINA notes an armed attack in Ramadi left 1 police officer dead and another injured, 2 people were shot dead in the al-Shulah section of Baghdad, a Baghdad car bombing claimed 2 lives and left twelve injuted, and a Ramadi car bombing claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi soldiers and 1 police officer with ten more people left injured.  All Iraq News notes 1 police officer was shot dead in Beji and 1 corpse was discovered in the streets of Tikrit (shot in head and chest, hand cuffed). Alsumaria adds that today 2 corpses were discovered in the streets of Aldiom (the two were security officers for the province) and a Baghdad home invasion last night left 1 woman dead.



    Yet more violence today?  Another prison escape took place.  National Iraqi News Agency explains, "Conflicting stories about the number of escapees from the prison of al-Adalah of the Federal Police in Kazimiyah area at dawn today." AFP says 22 escaped -- "most were later recaptured" -- and two guards were killed.  Reuers says the Ministry of Interior spokesperson is declaring that all but 3 of 22 escapees have been caught; however, "three police sources told Reuters at least 14" remained on the lam with eleven recaptured and that 1 prisoner and 1 police officer were killed in the prison break.  All Iraq News notes their police source states 30 escaped originally.   Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count notes 370 violent deaths in Iraq so far this month.

    The prison break today?  All Iraq News notes the Ministry of Justice made a point to issue a statement declaring that they don't run the prison, "The escapees escaped from the intelligent department of the Eighth Brigade of the Federal Police where Adala prison is under the custody of the Ministry of Interior and the MoJ has no relation to it." For those not grasping the point, Nouri al-Maliki is over the Ministry of the Interior.

    Back in July, 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."  He never has and he won't.  If elections are held at the end of April, Nouri's not going to rush, in the final moments of his second term, to finally nominate people to head those three posts.  This should be a huge issue in the election -- not just that this was a power grab, although it was -- but mainly that while the security situation worsened each year of Nouri's second term, he failed to nominate people to head the security ministries.

    We're in politic now, so let's stay here for a bit more.  April 30th, parliamentary elections are supposed to take place in Iraq.  Mustafa Habib (Niqash) offers an analysis of the political groupings today:


    Iraq’s Sunni Muslim politicians have re-grouped in preparation for the 2014 general elections. Their main alliance is split and it seems that they’ve left their non-sectarian former leader and turned toward their own kind. The country’s Sunni Muslim voters may well have a new leader in outspoken, high profile MP, Osama al-Nujaifi. 
    During Iraq’s 2010 general elections, Sunni Muslim politicians formed one major bloc, which meant that, in effect, they won the elections. [. . .]
     And now, in preparation for the next general elections, slated for April 2014, Sunni Muslim politicians have split their group again
    As a result, Iraq’s Sunni Muslims seem to have gained a new political leader in the form of Osama al-Nujaifi, the current Speaker of the House. Over the past fortnight, senior Sunni Muslim politicians have been conducting meetings to decide what will happen with former members of the mostly Sunni Muslim, opposition Iraqiya bloc next year.
    The outcome of the meetings: instead of one, there will be three mostly Sunni Muslim alliances competing in the next elections. These are the United bloc, headed by al-Nujaifi, the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue headed by current Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq and then finally the National Iraqiya bloc to be led by the former head of the Iraqiya bloc, Ayed Allawi.
    Sources inside the meetings told NIQASH that the reason that negotiations broke down on putting up a cohesive front was Allawi’s insistence that he lead the bloc again. However al-Nujaifi, whose profile has certainly been rising over the past few years, also wanted that position at the head of the table. Additionally neither Allawi nor al-Nujaifi wanted to ally themselves with an increasingly unpopular (with Sunni Muslims anyway) Saleh al-Mutlaq. Al-Mutlaq is seen as far too close to al-Maliki and he has recently been at the receiving end of Sunni Muslim protestors’ dislike for him.
    The United coalition, led by al-Nujaifi, will include 14 other Sunni Muslim groups as well as a group of Turkmen politicians. Meanwhile Allawi’s National Iraqiya group is composed of a variety of different political entities from right around Iraq. These include Sunni Muslim, Shiite Muslim and tribal based groups and many of them don’t have major voter support. Allawi has said he is staying with this group because of his ongoing belief in non-sectarian politics. 


    On the topic of Ayad Allawi, he posted to his Facebook today a note that he didn't participate in Iraq's current government because the governments of the United States and Iran colluded to give second place Nouri al-Maliki a second term.  He notes that per the Constitution, Iraqiya had the mandate.  In February 2011, Nouri was publicly insisting (to AFP) that he would not seek a third term.  And now?

    All Iraq News reports that State of Law MP Ibrahim al-Rikabi declared that Nouri will be their nominee, declaring, "The SLC does not have any nominee for this post except Maliki." As a leader, Nouri has been an abject failure. Iraq Times points out that Iraq is one of the richest countries in the world yet thousands of Iraqis are homeless.  All Iraq News noted earlier this week that cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr referred to Nouri's talk of distributing plots of land to be "electoral propaganda." Noting the failures of the current government, Mutahiddon Coalition MP Wihda al-Jumaili tells All Iraq News, that she believes the country should elect more business people -- with successful track records -- in the next election.


    Iraqi Spring MC reports protests took place in Baquba, Jalawla, Samarra, Falluja, and Rawa, Protests have been taking place non-stop since December 21st.  Next Friday will be one year of continuous protests.

    Ghassan al-Hamid (Alsumaria) reports that Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi's coalition noted today that the protesters have been attacked -- most infamously the Hawija attack which left over fifty dead -- by Nouri's forces, that they've endured that and harassment in order to represent the ideals of Iraq, that their voices are only going stronger and that the choice is to be a part of the voice of Iraq or to be someone who cares only for themselves.

    Hawija?  That's the April 23rd massacre of a sit-in in Hawija which resulted from  Nouri's federal forces storming in.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.   AFP reported 53 dead  -- indicating that some of the wounded did not recover. UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).

    That's not the only attack on the protesters, it's just the most infamous one.

    National Iraqi News Agency reports:

    Sheikh Ali al-Suleiman Amir of Duleim tribes said that Sahwa forces should take out of Anbar province., if the central government want security and stability in the province for the next phase.
    He said in a speech in the courtyard of the sit-in north of Ramadi : "At the beginning of the formation of Sahwa forces was to fight terrorism, and has been integrated into the security services , but in these days , Sahwa works in favor of a particular parties. so if the central government want security to preavail in Anbar then must get them out of the province.


    That's the smartest request he could make.  Sahwa leaders in Anbar are becoming an embarrassment and a menace.  They are threatening the protesters and this week began telling the press that the way to deal with the protests is to go into the sit-ins and bash heads.

    The heads that need to be bashed?  Sahwas.  No one really gives a damn about 'em.  They're part of the mafia in Iraq -- that's why so many leaders hail from the concrete business.  They're whorish little toadies who took money from the occupying power (the US) to spy on and attack other Iraqis.

    Now the whores have sold out to Nouri and have become his muscle to attack the protesters.

    They thought -- as did Nouri -- that they could take the heat of SWAT and other of Nouri's forces -- forces that are primarily Shi'ite.  But the Sahwa in Anbar?  Those are Sunnis.  Sunnis attacking Sunnis, they and Nouri thought, would be able to pull off violence.

    It doesn't work that way.

    And if Sahwa can't be put on a tighter leash, Iraq's really going to erupt.

    The State Dept, the White House and US Ambassador to Iraq Stephen Beecroft need to explain this to Nouri real quick.

    Call them militants, call them rebels, call them insurgents, call them terrorists -- it doesn't matter one damn bit.

    What happens if Sahwa doesn't sit its ass down?  What happens if they go after the protesters?

    The resistance/the terrorists/the militants/the insurgents suddenly and immediately get street cred in Anbar because they're the only ones who will be seen as standing up for the Sunni population.

    If you think things are bad in Iraq right now, you're right.  But if Sahwa launches a violent attack on the protesters, things will get much worse and militants will be able to move much more freely because they will have many people in Anbar aligned with and/or sympathetic to them and their cause.



    Nouri can't protect the Iraqi people, he can attack them -- as he's attacked the Camp Ashraf residents all along.  There are 7 Ashraf members who were kidnapped this fall.  Where are they?

    Last month,  Brett McGurk, the State Dept's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, appeared  Wednesday before the  US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa (see the November 13th  "Iraq snapshot," the November 14th "Iraq snapshot" and  the November 15th  "Iraq snapshot").  In that hearing, this exchange took place.



    US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee:   [. . .]  But there are hostages in Iraq that we must have now.  There's documentation that those hostages are there by our French allies, by the United Nations and other supportive groups and information.  I can't imagine with the wealth of sophisticated intelligence authorities that we have, that we have funded who have a vast array of information about Americans  cannot pinpoint where starving Iranians, loved ones [are] whose families are trying to save their lives after being on a hunger strike for 73 days.  And so I would ask this question of you, already knowing about your heart and your concern, I will not judge you, I already know that you're committed to getting this right/  Will you -- will you demand of Maliki, not next week or months from now, but can we expect in the next 48 hours a call to the head of the government of Iraq demanding the release of these hostages and demanding their release now?  Or the documented, undeniable evidence that they are not held in Iraq?  Second, would you be engaged with -- or  the Secretary [of State John Kerry] be engaged with -- and I have spoken to Secretary Kerry, I know his heart -- with Maliki to demand the security of those in Camp Ashraf  for now and forever until a relocation to a homeland, a place where their relatives are or where they desire to be? [. . .]

    Brett McGurk:  [. . .] We can pinpoint where the people are and I'd like to follow up with you on that.  The seven are not in Iraq.  But I will guarantee in my conversations with Maliki on down, the safety and the security of Camp Ashraf, Camp Liberty, where the residents are, the government needs to do everything possible to keep those poeople safe  but they will never be safe until they're out of Iraq.  And we all need to work together -- the MEK, us, the Committee, everybody, the international community -- to find a place for them to go.  There's now a UN trust fund, we've donated a million dollars and we're asking for international contributions to that fund for countries like Albania that don't have the resources but are willing to take the MEK in.  And we need to press foreign captials to take them in because until they're out, they're not going to be safe and we don't want anyone else to get hurt.  We don't want anymore Americans to get hurt in Iraq, we don't want anymore Iraqis to get hurt in Iraq  and we don't want any more residents of Camp Liberty to get hurt in Iraq and until they're out of Iraq, they're not going to be safe.  This is an international crisis and we need international help and support. 


    US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee:  May I follow -- May I just have a minute more to follow up with Mr. McGurk, Secretary McGurk?  And I hear the passion in your voice but let me just say this. We're in an open hearing.  You know where they are.  Who is going to rescue them?  Whose responsibility will it be to get them from where they are into safe haven?  Because otherwise, we're leaving -- we're leaving Maliki now without responsibility.  We're saying, and you're documenting that they're not there.  Let me just say that when my government speaks, I try with my best heart and mind to believe it.  But I've got to see them alive and well to believe that they're not where I think they are, they're in a pointed purse.  I'm glad to here that but I want them to be safe but I want them to be in the arms of their loved ones or at least able to be recognized by their loved one that they're safe somewhere.  So can that be done in the next 48 hours?  Can we have a-a manner that indicates that they are safe?

    Brett McGurk:  I will repeat here a statement that we issued on September 16th and it's notable and I was going to mention this in my colloquy with my Congressman to my left, that within hours of the attack, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Score issued a statement praising the attack.  We issued a statement on September 16th calling on the government of Iran to use whatever influence it may have with groups that might be holding these missing persons to secure their immediate release.  And I can talk more about details and the status of these individuals.  And I've briefed some members of the Subcommittee. I'd be happy to follow up. 


    Brett McGurk and the US government are not believed on this statement and, as we noted when we reported the above exchange, the whereabouts shouldn't be classified.

    If the US was physically protecting the 7, that might -- briefly -- be a reason for not giving their whereabouts.  That is not what the government has suggested. So if they're being held against their will by the Iranian government or a proxy for the Iranian government -- or by Nouri or a proxy for Nouri's government -- newsflash, the ones doing the holding no where the 7 are being held.

    It's not classified and kept from the holders.  So why the need for the State Dept to play like the location cannot be spoken of?

    Tuesday Secretary of State John Kerry appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  It was a testy hearing.   John needs to stop being so damn combative in hearings.  He also needs to stop insisting over and over that he get to yammer on.  There's a five minute rule in House hearings.  He was often rude (but at least he spread it around -- he was rude to Republicans and to Democrats). .


    US House Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: And lastly, two issues.  Regarding Camp Ashraf, are the Ashraf 7 being held in Iran or are they in Iraq?  And, Mr. Secretary, [. . .]


    He went on and on.  I'm not including it.  I'd love to include the insult to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (and I agreed with him 100% on that), for example that took place in the exchange that followed Ros-Lehtinen, but I don't have the time.  As it is, I'm pushing back coverage of another hearing to Monday's snapshot.  So we'll ignore all of his words that had nothing to do with Camp Ashraf and pick up here.

    US House Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:  If you could answer the Ashraf and the Cuba question?

    Secretary John Kerry: Beg your pardon?

    US House Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:  If you could answer the question about Ashraf --

    Secretary John Kerry:  The question of Ashraf was where-where are they?

    US House Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:  Iran or Iraq?


    Secretary John Kerry:  Well they're in Iraq.

    US House Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:  They're in Iraq?

    Secretary John Kerry:  The people.

    US House Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: The seven hostages that were taken from Ashraf?

    Secretary John Kerry:  I-I-I . . .

    US House Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:  They have not -- We have not known where they are.

    Kerry spoke with the people sitting behind him, then returned to the microphone.

    Secretary of State John Kerry:  Uh, I can talk to you about that in classified session.


    We're talking about the Ashraf residents so, before we note one more exchange, let's include the overview on the Ashraf community.  As of September, Camp Ashraf in Iraq is empty.  All remaining members of the community have been moved to Camp Hurriya (also known as Camp Liberty).  Camp Ashraf housed a group of Iranian dissidents who were  welcomed to Iraq by Saddam Hussein in 1986 and he gave them Camp Ashraf and six other parcels that they could utilize. In 2003, the US invaded Iraq.The US government had the US military lead negotiations with the residents of Camp Ashraf. The US government wanted the residents to disarm and the US promised protections to the point that US actions turned the residents of Camp Ashraf into protected person under the Geneva Conventions. This is key and demands the US defend the Ashraf community in Iraq from attacks.  The Bully Boy Bush administration grasped that -- they were ignorant of every other law on the books but they grasped that one.  As 2008 drew to a close, the Bush administration was given assurances from the Iraqi government that they would protect the residents. Yet Nouri al-Maliki ordered the camp repeatedly attacked after Barack Obama was sworn in as US President. July 28, 2009 Nouri launched an attack (while then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was on the ground in Iraq). In a report released this summer entitled "Iraqi government must respect and protect rights of Camp Ashraf residents," Amnesty International described this assault, "Barely a month later, on 28-29 July 2009, Iraqi security forces stormed into the camp; at least nine residents were killed and many more were injured. Thirty-six residents who were detained were allegedly tortured and beaten. They were eventually released on 7 October 2009; by then they were in poor health after going on hunger strike."April 8, 2011, Nouri again ordered an assault on Camp Ashraf (then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was again on the ground in Iraq when the assault took place). Amnesty International described the assault this way, "Earlier this year, on 8 April, Iraqi troops took up positions within the camp using excessive, including lethal, force against residents who tried to resist them. Troops used live ammunition and by the end of the operation some 36 residents, including eight women, were dead and more than 300 others had been wounded. Following international and other protests, the Iraqi government announced that it had appointed a committee to investigate the attack and the killings; however, as on other occasions when the government has announced investigations into allegations of serious human rights violations by its forces, the authorities have yet to disclose the outcome, prompting questions whether any investigation was, in fact, carried out."  Those weren't the last attacks.  They were the last attacks while the residents were labeled as terrorists by the US State Dept.  (September 28, 2012, the designation was changed.)   In spite of this labeling, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed that "since 2004, the United States has considered the residents of Camp Ashraf 'noncombatants' and 'protected persons' under the Geneva Conventions."  So the US has an obligation to protect the residents.  3,300 are no longer at Camp Ashraf.  They have moved to Camp Hurriyah for the most part.  A tiny number has received asylum in other countries. Approximately 100 were still at Camp Ashraf when it was attacked Sunday.   That was the second attack this year alone.   February 9th of this year, the Ashraf residents were again attacked, this time the ones who had been relocated to Camp Hurriyah.  Trend News Agency counted 10 dead and over one hundred injured.  Prensa Latina reported, " A rain of self-propelled Katyusha missiles hit a provisional camp of Iraqi opposition Mujahedin-e Khalk, an organization Tehran calls terrorists, causing seven fatalities plus 50 wounded, according to an Iraqi official release."  They were attacked again September 1st.   Adam Schreck (AP) reported that the United Nations was able to confirm the deaths of 52 Ashraf residents.  It was during that attack that the 7 hostages were taken.

    US House Rep Dana Rohrabacher:  I am introducing a bill today that will allow 3,000 refugees from Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty -- now Camp Liberty -- status --refugee status and thus will permit them to be able to come to the United States.  Hundreds of these people have been slaughtered.  They live under constant threat of being murdered, we know that.  And, uh-uh, will this administration be supporting my legislation to prevent these people from being slaughtered by this pro-Mullah regime that we have in Iraq now?

    Secretary John Kerry: Well Congressman, I've gone to the lengths of appointing a special representative to work exclusively to get the, uh, -- 

    US House Rep Dana Rohrabacher:  I'm just asking about my legislation.

    Secretary John Kerry:  Well I need to see the legislation but  in principle we're trying to find a place for -- 

    US House Rep Dana Rohrabacher:  So in principle -- you would agree with letting these refugees have status -- refugee status so they can come here

    Secretary John Kerry:  Uh, we are -- We're trying to find a place for them to go now.

    US House Rep Dana Rohrabacher:  Okay, so in principle --

    Secretary John Kerry: In principle, I'd like to see the legislation but I can't speak for the President. 



    Turning to the topic of the Jewish archives that Saddam Hussein stole from the Jewish community and that the US government paid to restore, the ones the White House insist should be handed over to the Iraqi government despite the Iraqi government's lack of legal claim to this stolen property.  Ruth's already noted the column David A. Andelman wrote for U.S.A. Today:

    At the end of World War II, there were more than 130,000 Jews in Iraq—a quarter of the population of Baghdad. By the time of the Six Day War in 1967, that number had dwindled to barely 3,000. Today there are at most seven Jews left — each fearful even of disclosing his identity — indeed not even a minion, the minimum number (ten) required for Jewish worship. But abroad, they constitute an enormous community, united under the banner of the World Organization of Jews from Iraq, according to its president, Maurice Shohet who himself fled Iraq in 1970 at the age of 21. The largest single Iraqi Jewish community, outside of Israel, is in the United States. And this is where the Iraqi diaspora wants these artifacts to remain.
    Just why the Iraqi government wants these items returned is an open question—likely a pastiche of the public position authorities have expressed to Urman, that it wants to showcase the "contributions of the Jewish people to Iraq," and the reality that they are aware of their enormous and unchallenged value.
    "From our point of view, they were taken from us and as a result we are the official heirs of the material," Urman observes. "This is not like material looted from national museums. It was taken by force by intelligence agents."
    And now, some substantial force is being brought to bear on their behalf. On November 13, a bipartisan group of 47 House Democrats and Republicans signed a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging the State Department to "facilitate the return of these items to their rightful owners or their descendants, and not to the government of Iraq." Why? "The government of Iraq has no legitimate claim to these artifacts," the letter concludes.

    And they don't.  There's nothing in the law that allows the government to claim stolen property stolen by a previous government.

    JEREMY HOBSON, HOST:An exhibit on now at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. features books, manuscripts and photographs taken from generations of Iraqi Jews that were found in Saddam Hussein's intelligence headquarters in 2003.  Cynthia Kaplan Shamash and Edwin Shuker were childhood friends in Bagdad. They escaped from Iraq in the early '70s and they're both members of the World Organization of Jews from Iraq. They're with us now. 


    That's Jeremy Hobson speaking on Here and Now (NPR -- link is audio and text) Thursday.  Let's note an excerpt.


    SHAMASH: We took the train from Bagdad to the North, to Kirkuk, to make it over the mountains in Iran, and we were caught and we were imprisoned. I was eight; I was interrogated separately, being the youngest in the family.
    As a matter of fact, I have the doll here that was ripped apart. They took the intestines out that says Mama and that would be proof of espionage device. And then we were transported to Bagdad and separated with my sisters; my mother and me separated from my father and brother. We didn't know each other's fate and that went on for like five weeks.
    Eventually we applied for passports. We got the passports after like two months and we left as if we're leaving on a vacation, because you, of course, cannot say that you're leaving for good, even though they knew how to read between the lines. And so we left to Turkey and eventually we ended in different countries abroad.

    HOBSON: And you still have that doll?

    SHAMASH: Yes, I have it with me right here.

    HOBSON: What does it mean to you?

    SHAMASH: It means something, now it's darkness, and it brings darkness and despair when I look at it. And I show it to my children. Like, when I came on the train to the studio, I held onto it for dear life. For me, this is more than gold. It is a part of my heritage. It is an evidence that I have where I came from and what oppression we had to go through to be where we are and not take for granted our safety.

    HOBSON: Edwin, do you have something like that?

    SHUKER: I do. I have something like that in the (unintelligible) exhibition.

    HOBSON: Your school certificate?

    SHUKER: My school certificate. This is my doll and my doll is behind glass and I can't touch it, and I'm waiting for the day, just like Cynthia did, to actually hold my doll.

    HOBSON: Well, tell us the story of that certificate and how it was found, first of all.

    SHUKER: Well, back in 2003, the American Army was informed that there was a cache of Jewish artifacts and documents, and what they saw was a huge collection of books and artifacts and documents, but unfortunately, because of the bombing, the water system had collapsed and the whole cache was under a meter and a half of water. So that was really the vast collection of our identity sitting underwater. Eventually the water was drained and they were transported to Texas, to America, and for the past 10 years they've been lovingly restored, preserved, digitalized, and a small collection of it is exhibited in Washington at the moment.

    HOBSON: Do you think that it should stay in Washington, or do you think it should go back to Iraq or what?

    SHUKER: Well, quite honestly, I have to tell you that when I looked at that certificate for the first time, my heart stopped. I just felt I have left this, but more than a certificate, this was the community's identity. That collection is much more than its intrinsic value. I just looked at that certificate and I saw that little boy staring at me, that picture of Edwin Shuker when he was 12, and I just felt connected back to him after 43 years, a little boy that was abandoned back home with his certificates, with his identity, with his toys, with his stamp collection. We just left him behind in Baghdad. And last month I got reconnected with him, and just as Cynthia described her doll, that was my identity, and boy, do I want it to be with me, do I want it to stay for my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. And no, I don't want it to go back.







     bbc news







     

    mohammed tawfeeq
    reuters






    Look who ObamaCare's screwing over now

    $
    0
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    Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts"The Selfie" went up earlier today.

    selfie


    The selfie.  I love it.  And he really is the Lucy Ricardo of politics.  Only he is not as sweet and charming as Lucy is.


    At No Quarter, Larry Johnson notes a New York Times article which reports:

    Many in New York’s professional and cultural elite have long supported President Obama’s health care plan. But now, to their surprise, thousands of writers, opera singers, music teachers, photographers, doctors, lawyers and others are learning that their health insurance plans are being canceled and they may have to pay more to get comparable coverage, if they can find it.
    They are part of an unusual, informal health insurance system that has developed in New York, in which independent practitioners were able to get lower insurance rates through group plans, typically set up by their professional associations or chambers of commerce. That allowed them to avoid the sky-high rates in New York’s individual insurance market, historically among the most expensive in the country.
    But under the Affordable Care Act, they will be treated as individuals, responsible for their own insurance policies. For many of them, that is likely to mean they will no longer have access to a wide network of doctors and a range of plans tailored to their needs. And many of them are finding that if they want to keep their premiums from rising, they will have to accept higher deductible and co-pay costs or inferior coverage.

    I am not laughing at the people the paper is reporting on; however, I am not feeling sorry for them.

    They pimped ObamaCare, they shouted people down.

    We needed universal, single-payer health care.

    You do that not by creating a program that makes the insurance industry rich, you do it by expanding the existing program of Medicare so that it covers everyone.

    But President Barack Obama did not want to do that.  (Nor did former President Bill Clinton when his program was being proposed in the 90s.)

    And people should have been demanding it.  Instead, the people like the one the paper reports on were attacking those of us who saw ObamaCare as a corporatist give away.

    So now it effects them.  Now they find out that the inexpensive insurance they had is gone.

    Actions have consequences.

    Too bad for them.  I am not laughing at them but I feel no sympathy nor pity.


    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today: 


    Monday, December 16, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, bold attacks include seizing a municipal building and a police building, another journalist is murdered in Iraq over the weekend, the US Congress is -- and has been -- on to Nouri, we explore how the knowledge that Nouri is a thug is a bi-partisan awareness, and more.



    "Jail breaks, massive suicide attacks and assassinations are the norm.  Not since 2008 has it been this bad," declared US House Rep Ted Poe declared last week of Iraq (in a Congressional hearing we'll note later in this snapshot).  And those two sentences are even more true today as a series of spectacular attacks slammed Iraq leaving many dead and injured.  Russia Today reports 70 dead from the violence.  Deutsche Welle observes, "This has been the worst year in terms of violence that Iraq has seen since 2007, when sectarian violencepushed the country to the brink of civil war. United Nations figures put the death toll from November alone at 659. More than 6,000 have been killed since the start of 2013." BBC News offers, "Correspondents say the attacks show how insurgents are now targeting symbols of government authority on a near daily basis." AP called today "the bloodiest day in violence in Iraq in nearly two months."

    Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, Tweeted:


  • Violence grips Iraq in day of deadly bombings.Gift from coalition of the willing.



  • All Iraq News notes suicide bombers took control of the Beiji police station -- 2 blew themselves up at the gates and 2 more entered the police station and took control of it. National Iraqi News Agency reports 7 police officers were killed and four more were injured in the initial attacks.  In the process, All Iraq News notes, all prisoners being held at the police station were freed.  However, Ghazwan Hassan (Reuters) quotes Major Salih al-Qaisi stating, "We believe the attack was aimed at freeing detainees who are being held in the building next door.  All the militants were killed before they reached the police department building where the detainees are held."  NINA adds that "security forces stormed the police station and killed the two suicide bombers who were inside." Alsumaria reports a curfew has been imposed upon the city.

    Also NINA notes assailants in "military uniforms stormed the building of the Municipal Council in the center of Tikrit" using a car bombing as the initial assault.  Alsumaria states the bombing was near the building and, following it, the municipal building was stormed.  All Iraq News has two suicide bombers detonating in the building.  NINA states security forces stormed the building killing all the assailants and freeing the hostages. EFE reports, "A city official, two police officers and three of the attackers died in the assault on Tikrit's city hall, a police spokesman told Efe." Al-Shorfa explains the city official was "local council member Hamid al-Ujaily" and that four of his bodyguards were injured while 1 was killed.  AFP notes, "Security forces also ordered all government employees in the city, including teachers, to go home for the day."


    In addition, National Iraqi News Agency reports 7 people were shot dead in Mosul, a Falluja armed attack left 1 police officer dead and another injured, a central Baghdad bombing (Nahda area) claimed 1 life and left five more people injured, a Falluja suicide car bomber took his own life and the lives of 2 police officers plus five more people were injured, an armed attack in Baghdad left one employee of the City of Baghdad injured, a Baghdad car bombign (Jisr, "south of the capital") left twenty-five people injured, and a Baghdad car bombing (Bayaa area) left eight people injured.  Alsumaria reports the main checkpoint at the entrance to Anbar Province from Baghdad was attacked leaving 1 Iraqi military officer dead and four Iraqi soldiers injured.  Russia Today reports, "Earlier on Monday, Gunmen opened fire on a bus in the northern city of Mosul, killing 11 and wounding eight. The bus was carrying a group of Shiite pilgrims to Karbala." Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports, "In Baghdad, at least 27 people were killed and more than 50 wounded when two car bombs exploded in quick succession near a procession of pilgrims making their way by foot to Karbala for the annual commemoration of the seventh century death of their Imam Hussein, a memorial called the Arbaeen."

    Iraq Body Count notes 27 violent deaths on Sunday and, through Sunday, 475 people died from violence so far this month. Yesterday's violence included the murder of another journalist.  Press TV notes,  "According to local media reports, Nawras al-Nuaimi was shot on Sunday near her home in the Iraqi city of Mosul. She was the fifth journalist killed in the violence-hit city since October." Mu Xuequan (Xinhua) reports:

    Nawras al-Nuaimi, 20, got several shots in the head when gunmen opened fire on her near her house in al-Jazaair neighborhood in eastern Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua.
    Nuaimi has been working as a presenter of TV programs in the local Mosuliyah channel for five years, he said, adding that she was the fourth journalist killed in Mosul since October and the 51st in Nineveh province since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.


    She may actually have been 19 -- Al Rafidayn reports she was born in 1994.  AFP adds that six journalists have been killed in Iraq since October (with five in Mosul) and notes, "On December 5, Kawa Germyani, the editor-in-chief of the news website Rayel and a correspondent for the Kurdish- language newspaper Awene , was killed outside his home in town of Kalar, south of the Kurdish Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, the Committee to Protect Journalists said."

    Reporters Without Borders issued a statement today which included:

    Reporters Without Borders is appalled by TV presenter Nawras al Nouaymi’s murder yesterday in Mosul, the capital of the northern province of Nineveh. Unidentified gunmen shot her near her home in the city’s eastern district of Al-Jazair.
    Aged 19, she was a student at Mosul university’s media faculty and had worked as a presenter for satellite TV station Al-Mosuliya for the past five years.
    “We are stunned by this latest murder and by the failure of the local and national authorities to respond to the deadly campaign against journalists in Iraq,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The continuing violence and the impunity enjoyed by those responsible constitute a major threat to freedom of information.
    “We again urge the authorities to deploy all necessary resources for independent investigations which do not rule out the possibility of a link between these murders and the victims’ work as a journalists, and which result in the perpetrators and instigators being brought to justice.

    “Although the security forces have been aware for weeks of the existence of a list of 44 journalists in Nineveh province who are targets for ‘physical liquidation,’ no measure has been taken to protect these journalists. We call on the local and national authorities to address this omission at once.”

    Last week, journalist Kawa Ahmed Germyani was shot dead in Mosul.  As was her case then, so it is now, Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor and Al Jazeera) couldn't be bothered noting the deaths of Iraqi journalists in Iraq but let one be killed in Syria and Jane takes to Twitter to express her horror.  It's a funny sort concern for journalists that never includes those within the borders of Iraq.  AFP isn't being silent about the assassinations and reported on the latest assassination:


    "I had to change my place of residence in Mosul and remain at my (new) home without leaving, after the killings that affected a number of my colleagues," said journalist Salim Fadhel, 30.
    "My colleagues left Mosul for the Kurdistan region with their families, or for outside Iraq," Fadhel said, referring to the autonomous three-province region of northern Iraq where attacks are relatively rare compared to the rest of the country.
    "There is a rumour in Mosul saying that armed groups issued a list of names of 40 journalists who will be eliminated by them," Fadhel added.

    On the topics of Iraq and journalism, LA Times Photography Tweeted:


    Witness to war: Photographers tell of their experiences covering Iraq conflict






    Staying with Tweets, this is the sort of incident that the western press repeatedly ignores:





  • And it's why the violence is so bad, incidents like that.  This is the consensus the western media works to keep from you.  They can yack forever about 'al Qaeda in Iraq' but they can't tell you about how Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and chief thug of Iraq, brings on the violence.

    It is the consensus.  It's the consensus in the US Congress, it's the consensus among think tanks and NGOs.  For example,  Human Rights Watch's Kenneth Roth Tweeted the following today:



  • PM Maliki's increasingly sectarian way of governing has helped to fuel the country's radical Sunni insurgency.


  • The western press whores themselves out repeatedly.

    That's why Nouri is in power right now.  He didn't get a second term from the voters, they didn't go for him which is why his State of Law came in second in the 2010 parliamentary elections.  The White House gave him the second term in 2010.   And Iraq has suffered ever since.

    Here's the Brookings Institution's Kenneth M. Pollack:

    The problems began after Iraq's 2010 national elections. The elections themselves were wonderful -- the best yet. Iraqis voted overwhelmingly for Ayad Allawi’s mostly-Sunni Iraqiya and Maliki's overwhelmingly Shi'a State of Law coalitions, the two groups seen as most secular, least sectarian and least tied to the militias. Of the two, Iraqiya garnered slightly more votes. But Maliki refused to believe that he had lost, insisting that the vote had been rigged (perhaps by the Americans, his aides claimed) and refusing to allow Allawi to take the first turn at forming a government. Then he pressured Iraq's high court to rule that he could get the first shot at forming a government, which deadlocked the entire political system. And the United States (and the UN) went along and said nothing. Rather than insist that Allawi be given the first chance, as is customary in most democracies and as was clearly what was best for Iraqi democracy. The U.S. did nothing. Ten months of political backstabbing followed, and in the end, the Iranians forced Moqtada al-Sadr to back Maliki, uniting the Shi'a behind him. At that point, the Kurds fell into place, believing that the prime minister had to be a Shi'a, and Iraqiya's chances were finished. It was also a defeat for Iraqi democracy. The message that it sent to Iraq's people and politicians alike was that the United States under the new Obama Administration was no longer going to enforce the rules of the democratic road. Washington was not going to insist that the will of the people win out. America was willing to step aside and allow Iraq's traditional political culture of pay-offs, log-rolling, threats and violence to re-emerge to determine who would rule the country. It undermined the reform of Iraqi politics and resurrected the specter of the failed state.

    Pollack leaves a lot out in the above but you'll note that he does begin to put some blame on the White House.  They can't escape it forever.  And the best thing about the blame?  It may mean the White House can't steal the 2014 election (supposed to take place April 30th) for Nouri this go round -- or at least not without getting called out.


    We're playing catch up with Pollack.  Last week's "Leahy: In any country, this legal interpretation is extraordinary" covered the Senate Judicial Committee hearing, the "Iraq snapshot" on the 12th covered the
    Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing and the "Iraq snapshot" for the 13th covered US Secretary of State John Kerry appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

    We've got one more hearing to report on from last week.  Thursday, December 12th, there was a joint hearing held by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade and the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.  For the first Subcommittee, the Chair is Ted Poe and the Ranking Member is Howard Berman. US House Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the Chair of the second Subcommittee and US House Rep Ted Deutch is the Ranking Member.

    The topic was al Qaeda in Iraq.  We may explore that identification in another snapshot.  For now, we'll just note Pollack on the term:


    Nevertheless, it is also important to recognize that AQI was actually only one of many Sunni insurgent/terrorist/militia groups operating in Iraq against the Shi'a, the Americans and to a lesser extent, the Kurds. At the height of Iraq’s civil war, dozens of groups like the 1920s Revolution Brigade, Ansar al-Sunnah, Jaysh al-Muhammad and Jaysh Rijal al-Tariqa Naqshbandia (JRTN). Many, but not all, of these groups embraced the same Salafist theology as AQI, but all of them espoused the same virulent Sunni chauvinism. To a considerable extent, we have come to use the term "AQI" as a shorthand term describing a wider range of violent Sunni extremist groups.



    Appearing before the two Subcommittees were Pollack, Jessica D. Lewis (Institute for the Study of War), Michael Knights (Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Daniel Byman (professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University).  

    We're going to note the hearing in at least two snapshots.  Since the topic was Iraq, we may end up doing more coverage of it than just two snapshots.

    Congress was highly resistant to Nouri al-Maliki when he met with them in the last week of October.  (Friday, November 1st, he went to the White House and met with US President Barack Obama.)  They're resistant because they know Nouri's a thug.

    They don't have to whore like Jane Arraf and other reporters do.

    We're very critical of John Kerry's failures with regards to Iraq.  So much so that some e-mails complain about how Hillary got a pass.  I think you need to look at the reporting in January on Hillary's testimony to Congress before you argue Hillary got a pass.

    In terms of Iraq, Hillary wasn't over it.  We noted that in real time.  US Vice President Joe Biden was supposed to be in charge but he really couldn't go around War Hawk Samantha Power either (Power argued the White House had to give Nouri a second term -- Barack went along with her).

    One good reason for Hillary not being over Iraq and for her making only one visit to the country?  Nouri al-Maliki hates her.  He hates most women, true.  But Hillary talked what a thug and criminal he was in an April 2008 Senate hearing.  Nouri never forgot.  Now Biden made similar comments but spread out over time.  He's also a man so Nouri's more likely to go meek.

    It is not just Democrats or just Republicans that know Nouri's a thug, an abuser of human rights, a criminal.  This is known in both parties of Congress.  And when I note that here, someone wants to whine that that's just not true.  Like Senator Barbara Boxer's public remarks indicting Nouri have vanished?


    From Thursday's hearing, we're first going to note two statements on Nouri.

    Subcommittee Chair Ted Poe is a Republican.  We don't usually note party i.d. -- there are already enough harsh divisions in this country.  But to make sure everyone gets that both parties know Nouri is a thug and a menace, we're going to do two party i.d.s.


    Subcommittee Chair Ted Poe: Now he wants some help once again.  He talks out of both sides of his mouth while trying to cozy up to the United States, he cozies up to the Iranians at the same time.  Prime Minister Maliki came here dragging the sack in November wanting more tax payer money.  He wanted attack helicopters and all sorts of advanced equipment.  But is that what he needs to go after al Qaeda?  Does he have other reasons for wanting that equipment?  Maliki has centralized power. alienated the Sunnis, brought back the Shi'ite hit squads.  This in part has allowed al Qaeda to return to be back in Iraq.  What Maliki needs is a new strategy to fight al Qaeda.  This includes doing a better job of reaching out to the Sunni population so that they feel that Maliki represents all Iraqis, not just one group.


    Alright.  Ranking Member Brad Sherman is a Democrat.  What does he think of Nouri?


    Ranking Member Brad Sherman:  And he wants American weapons.  And his biggest argument is that we should give him American weapons because his enemies hate us.  The problem is, his friends hate us too.  And his friends in Tehran are more dangerous to us than his enemies in Falluja. Now Maliki's argument goes something like this: He holds office today solely as a result of various actions taken by the United States -- some of which were mistakes.  And so therefore he is our product and therefore we have to protect him and do whatever he wants.  And so therefore he is one of the good guys no matter who he allies himself with today.  The fact is, his allegiance to Tehran is only a little bit less than Assad's allegiance to Tehran.  But Maliki's government goes something like this: Since he has been the beneficiary of a series of American mistakes in the past, we have a legal duty to continue to make mistakes on his behalf in the future.  Uhm, if we're going to provide him with weapons, there ought to be at least four conditions.  The first is that he start trying to reach a compromise with at least some elements of the Sunni community.  He's taken provocative actions against Sunnis such as postponing elections in Sunni areas and forcing prominent Sunni politicians out of the government.  He shouldn't be seeking the best deal he can for the Shi'ite community, he should be seeking a peace that would benefit not only him but the United States.  And he needs to allow proper Sunni representation in his government.  Second, if he wants our weapons, he ought to pay for them. People involved in foreign policy seem to be so focused on foreign policy that whether we get paid for the weapons is a footnote.  The fact is Iraq has plenty of oil now, will have even more in the future.  They've to enough cash to pay for the weapons now and they can certainly borrow on the international markets and, at very minimum, they can agree to pay us later in cash or oil.  Third, he's got to stop Iranian flights over his air space into Syria.  He'll say, 'Well then give me an airforce.' We don't have to.  All he has to do is authorize the Saudi, the Turkish or the American airforce to ensure that his air space is not used  by Iranian thugs transiting to so that they can destroy and kill as many innocent people and some non-innocent people in Syria.  And finally he's got to focus on the hostages of Camp Ashraf and the human rights of those in Camp Hurriyah also known as Camp Liberty.  These are international responsibilities that he has.  So if there is no penetrating analysis, the argument will be: 'We created him, he seems like a good guy, he's in trouble, therefore we give him weapons for free.' That is the default position of our foreign policy


    Get it?  Criticism of Nouri is bi-partisan.  It is not about who controls the White House.  Though Democrats were the most vocal of the two groups back when Bully Boy Bush was in the White House, many Republicans in Congress, especially in the Senate, were publicly critical of Nouri and his thug ways.


    And now we're going to note Kenneth Pollack's testimony:

    Unfortunately, over the past two years, Iraq has taken a noticeable turn for the worse, although how bad things will get still remains uncertain. Our topic today, the reemergence of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), is among the most visible and frightening manifestations of Iraq's downward turn. AQI has been one of the principal culprits in the worsening violence across Iraq. In 2012, Iraq experienced a 10 percent increase in violent civilian deaths. That was the first annual increase since 2006, prior to the so-called "surge." In 2013, Iraq may very well experience a 100 percent increase in violent civilian deaths over 2012. Thus, it is not an exaggeration to say that violence is multiplying in Iraq by orders of magnitude. However, we need to recognize that the increasing violence in Iraq, and the reemergence of groups like AQI do not constitute Iraq's problems per se. They are instead the symptoms of those problems. They are the outward manifestations of deep-seated structural conflicts and unresolved differences among Iraq’s various constituencies. Although it is not impossible to mitigate or even resolve those underlying problems, they will not be overcome easily, and few of Iraq's political leaders are making the kind of effort that would be needed to do so. Instead, most of Iraq's leaders concentrate on achieving short-term tactical gains against their rivals, often in ways that exacerbate those problems rather than ameliorating them. For this reason, it will be difficult even to meaningfully reduce the levels of violence in Iraq without addressing Iraq's fundamental political -- and, to a lesser extent, economic and social -- problems. Iraq will never be peaceful, prosperous and free of the scourge of AQI and groups like it until Iraq's leaders properly grapple with those underlying problems and forge reasonable compromises to allow the country to move forward. The converse is also true. The longer that Iraq's fundamental political problems are allowed to fester; the longer that Iraq's bad, old political culture is allowed to hold sway; and the longer that Iraq's leaders obsess over how to beat their adversaries rather than fixing what ails the nation, the worse the violence is likely to get and the stronger that groups like AQI are likely to grow. In the end, as they hope, these groups might succeed in pushing the country back into civil war. [. . .] Looking back, Iraq may have reached its political, military and economic apex in 2009 and early 2010. In 2009 Iraq held provincial elections, and in 2010 national elections, that had resulted in stunning victories for those parties considered the most secular, the most vested in improving governance and services, the least tied to the militias and the least sectarian. They also handed equally stunning defeats to the parties most closely tied to the militias and the civil war. Indeed, the militias -- Sunni and Shi'a -- were withering, as were the vast majority of terrorist groups. Violence and deaths were way down. Secular, peaceful, nationalistic Iraqi leaders -- including Sunnis like Osama al-Nujaifi and Rafe al-Issawi -- were emerging and becoming dominant figures in government. There was a widespread feeling that everyone had to play by the democratic rules and no one could get caught subverting the will of the Iraqi people or even being too corrupt. All of this progress was very real, but it was also very fragile. Like a bone that had been fractured but was now mending, it needed a cast to protect it, hold it, and allow the bones to knit together and become strong. That role was played by the United States, in particular by our military forces in Iraq. During that time frame, it became an increasingly symbolic role as the drawdown in troop strength meant that we did less and less of the actual provision of security for Iraqis, but it was an absolutely critical role. As long as American forces remained, Iraqis did not fear the re-emergence of the security vacuum or the widespread use of violence by any group -- including whichever group controlled the government, thereby giving it by far the greatest capacity to use violence against its rivals. It also meant that Iraq's political leaders had to abide by the democratic rules of the road laid down by the Americans. This enabled good Iraqis to act constructively, and prevented the bad ones from acting too destructively. Iraqis could assume that the future would be better, not worse, and make decisions based on their hopes, not their fears. The problems began after Iraq's 2010 national elections. The elections themselves were wonderful -- the best yet. Iraqis voted overwhelmingly for Ayad Allawi's mostly-Sunni Iraqiya and Maliki's overwhelmingly Shi'a State of Law coalitions, the two groups seen as most secular, least sectarian and least tied to the militias. Of the two, Iraqiya garnered slightly more votes. But Maliki refused to believe that he had lost, insisting that the vote had been rigged -- perhaps by the Americans, his aides claimed --  and refusing to allow Allawi to take the first turn at forming a government. Then he pressured Iraq's high court to rule that he could get the first shot at forming a government, which deadlocked the entire political system. And the United States -- and the UN --  went along and said nothing. Rather than insist that Allawi be given the first chance, as is customary in most democracies and as was clearly what was best for Iraqi democracy. The US did nothing. Ten months of political backstabbing followed, and in the end, the Iranians forced Muqtada as-Sadr to back Maliki, uniting the Shi'a behind him. At that point, the Kurds fell into place, believing that the prime minister had to be a Shi'a, and Iraqiya's chances were finished. It was also a defeat for Iraqi democracy. The message that it sent to Iraq's people and politicians alike was that the United States under the new Obama Administration was no longer going to enforce the rules of the democratic road. Washington was not going to insist that the will of the people win out. America was willing to step aside and allow Iraq's traditional political culture of pay-offs, log-rolling, threats and violence to re-emerge to determine who would rule the country. It undermined the reform of Iraqi politics and resurrected the specter of the failed state. Having backed Maliki for prime minister simply to end the embarrassing political stalemate, the Administration compounded its mistake by lashing itself uncritically to his government. No matter what Maliki did -- good, bad or indifferent -- Washington backed him. Whether it was out of fear of being criticized for allowing him to remain in office in the first place, or sheer lack of interest and a desire to simply do what was easiest and required the least effort on the part of the US, the Administration applauded and overlooked everything he did. Maliki certainly did some good. He was not all bad. But he also did some very bad things -- things that were highly subversive of Iraqi democracy. Among the worst was to thoroughly politicize the ISF, ousting huge numbers of the competent, apolitical officers that the United States had worked so hard to put in place and replacing them with people loyal to him, regardless of their credentials. Very quickly, the ISF went from an apolitical force that most Iraqis trusted, to a servant of the Maliki government deeply distrusted by those outside the prime minister's camp.



    Again, we'll cover the hearing in at least one more snapshot this week.  But the violence isn't happening in a vacuum.  The foreign media in Iraq has been far too permissive when it comes to Nouri al-Maliki, allowing him to define what is violence, allowing him to define what started the violence.

    The fact of the matter is, in 2010, he refused to nominate people to head the security ministries so that he could control them.   Why is it only CNN can note that this is harmful to the security situation?

    They've fawned over Nouri, they've covered for him.  They've done everything but hold him accountable.



    In a major update on the US government's illegal spying, Charlie Savage (New York Times) reports:


    A Federal District Court judge ruled on Monday that the National Security Agency program that is systematically keeping records of all Americans’ phone calls most likely violates the Constitution, and he ordered the government to stop collecting data on two plaintiffs’ personal calls and destroy the records of their calling history.In a 68-page ruling, Judge Richard J. Leon of the District of Columbia called the program’s technology “almost Orwellian” and suggested that James Madison, the author of the Constitution, would be “aghast” to learn that the government was encroaching on liberty in such a way.


    The Bill of Rights Defense Committee noted Charlie Savage's report.  You can find information about BRDC at the following:

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    The ACLU issued the following today:



    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    CONTACT: media@aclu.org
    WASHINGTON – A federal court ruled today that the NSA’s mass call-tracking program violates the Constitution. The lawsuit was filed in Washington by activist Larry Klayman. The American Civil Liberties Union is currently litigating a similar legal challenge in New York, ACLU v. Clapper.
    ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer, one of two attorneys who argued the ACLU case last month, had this reaction to today’s ruling:
    “This is a strongly worded and carefully reasoned decision that ultimately concludes, absolutely correctly, that the NSA’s call-tracking program can’t be squared with the Constitution. As Judge Leon notes, the government’s defense of the program has relied almost entirely on a 30-year-old case that involved surveillance of a specific criminal suspect over a period of two days. The idea that this narrow precedent authorizes the government to place every American under permanent surveillance is preposterous. We hope that Judge Leon’s thoughtful ruling will inform the larger conversation about the proper scope of government surveillance powers, especially the debate in Congress about the reforms necessary to bring the NSA’s surveillance activities back in line with the Constitution. The bipartisan USA Freedom Act, which has 130 co-sponsors already, would address the constitutional problems that Judge Leon identifies.”

    Resources on NSA reform legislation and other legal actions are at:
    aclu.org/nsa-surveillance




    Community note, Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts"The Selfie" went up today, he has another comic that will go up tomorrow.

















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