CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O DOESN'T KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD EXPOSURE -- WHICH GOES TO JUST HOW DENSE HE IS.
DESPITE HAVING JUST APPEARED ON CBS' 60 MINUTES, BARRY O AND SHE-HULK WILL SIT DOWN WITH BARBARA WALTERS FOR A SPECIAL 20/20. ABC IS PROMOTING IT AS SHE-HULK'S "FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE THE MID-TERMS!" WOW THAT WAS FOREVER AGO, RIGHT?
TWO WEEKS.
OH CAN THAT FAMILY JUST GIVE AMERICA A BREAK ALREADY?
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
A special envoy from President Barack Obama raised the possibility in a secret meeting with senior Iraqi military and civilian officials in Baghdad Sep. 23 that his administration would leave more than 15,000 combat troops in Iraq after the 2011 deadline for U.S. withdrawal, according to a senior Iraqi intelligence official familiar with the details of the meeting.
But the White House official, Puneet Talwar, special assistant to the president and senior director for the Gulf States, Iran and Iraq on the National Security Council (NSC) staff, said the deployment would have to be handled in a way that was consistent the president's pledge to withdraw U.S. troops completely from Iraq under the 2008 agreement, the official said.
That's the opening to Gareth Porter's "U.S. Envoy Secretly Offered Troops in Iraq after 2011" (IPS). And this morning, we observed, "It's probably one of the most important articles of the week so look for it to be roundly ignored." Ignored? Boy was I wrong (I've been wrong before and will be wrong many times more). Ignored? Try disappeared. Use the link and you're taken to IPS main page. Hit the Iraq page of IPS and you can't find the story that way. A search demonstrates they're now playing Rupert Murdoch and burying the story behind a pay wall. IPS, for those who forgot or never knew, was part of the Cult of St. Barack and it's been really difficult for it to return to being a news agency.
But the White House official, Puneet Talwar, special assistant to the president and senior director for the Gulf States, Iran and Iraq on the National Security Council (NSC) staff, said the deployment would have to be handled in a way that was consistent the president's pledge to withdraw U.S. troops completely from Iraq under the 2008 agreement, the official said.
That's the opening to Gareth Porter's "U.S. Envoy Secretly Offered Troops in Iraq after 2011" (IPS). And this morning, we observed, "It's probably one of the most important articles of the week so look for it to be roundly ignored." Ignored? Boy was I wrong (I've been wrong before and will be wrong many times more). Ignored? Try disappeared. Use the link and you're taken to IPS main page. Hit the Iraq page of IPS and you can't find the story that way. A search demonstrates they're now playing Rupert Murdoch and burying the story behind a pay wall. IPS, for those who forgot or never knew, was part of the Cult of St. Barack and it's been really difficult for it to return to being a news agency.
Want to read the story? Don't waste your money on Jim Lobe's crap ass site which doesn't have the brains to grab traffic or the guts to call out Barack. Gareth's story can be found -- in full -- at Dissident Voice and Common Dreams links go directly to Porter's story. Too hot to be freed by IPS where they now attempt to bury it. We'll discuss the report in more detail and with context tomorrow. Right now, I want to note I was wrong. The story was not ignored -- it was buried..
From Iraq, Jomana Karadsheh (CNN) reports a Mosul sticky bombing today claimed the life of 1 adult male Iraqi Christian and his six-year-old daughter, the latest in the continued wave of attacks on Iraqi Christians. Yesterday, the targeting of Iraqi Christians continued with two more killed in Mosul home invasions. Jomana Karadsheh (CNN) reminds, "Attacks in October 2008 on Christians in Mosul prompted a mass exodus from that city of 1.8 million. Many Christian families in Iraq who spoke to CNN said they feared for their safety and wanted to leave the country, but didn't have the means to do so." That was 2008, only one of the many waves of attacks on Iraqi Christians, and Nouri did nothing then to protect Iraqi Christians either. Nouri's 'leadership' this go-round includes castigating France and Italy for offering medical treatment to the victims and asylum to victims and their families who deisre it. The latest wave of attacks garnered international attention when Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad was seized October 31st and 70 people -- including two priests -- were killed and 75 injured. Two nuns, Sister Alice and Sister Martine, were in the Church during the attack and (at Asia News) they share what they saw:
The church was attacked on Sunday, 31 October, past midday, right after Fr Tha'er's homily. Fr Wasim, who is the son of a cousin of Sister Lamia, was hearing confessions in the back of the church. Fr Raphael was in the choir. The attackers were all young, 14-15-year-olds. They did not wear a mask but had machine guns and hand grenades. They also carried explosive belts. When they arrived, they opened fire right away, killing Fr Wasim who was closing the church's door, shooting in every direction, telling people to lie on the floor, and not to move or shout. Someone was able to send some text messages with a mobile phone, but the attackers shot at anyone who was using a mobile. Fr Tha'er was killed at the altar in his liturgical vestments, still celebrating the mass. His brother and mothers were also killed. Then the slaughter began. We cannot tell you what everyone told us. Even crying children were killed. Some people fled to the sacristy, and blocked the door. Yet the attackers went up to the church's balcony and threw hand grenades through the sacristy windows, which are high up.
Joe Sterling and Jomana Karadsheh (CNN) report on an Iraqi Christian woman who no longer allows her children outside or to go to school due to the threats that Iraqi Christians are living under, a woman who informs that "security hasn't been beefed up since the assaults began on October 31" and who thought of moving her family to 'safer' Mosul until her sister who lives there "called, told her about the latest attacks targeting the community, and advised her not to come." The assault has led to international protests. Xinhua reports approximately 500 people protested the assaults in Sydney, Australia today, "A sea of Syrian and Iraqi flags waved through Martin Place in Sydney Central Business District on Tuesday, as about 500 protesters chanted 'stop the violence, stop the killing'." AAP quotes Raymond Elishapour stating, "There are many people there that are not only being wiped out but who want to seek asylum on Australian shores that are being subjected to long bureaucratic processes. They're being caught up in violence that they can't escape. Australia is liable because they were involved in causing the destabilisation (in Iraq) that has aggravated the circumstances for these people." Tom Reily, Yuko Narushima and Glenda Kwek (Sydney Morning Herald) add, "About 160 detainees reportedly went."
Meanwhile Ahmad Al Akabi apparently took his own life last night. Australia's ABC reports that he was among many immigrants at Sydney's Villawood detention center and that he had been attempting to receive asylum in Australia and that efforts were being made to expel him from Australia and send him back to Iraq: "Mr Al Akabi came to Australia by boat 12 months ago. He was a teacher and a truck driver in Karbala in southern Iraq. His fellow asylum seekers say his bid to stay in Australia was based on claims of persecution from the Shia Mahdi Army." AFP adds, "Human rights supporters said the man who had hanged himself in a bathroom on Tuesday was an Iraqi in his 40s who had left a wife and four children behind in Iraq, and arrived in Australia on a boat about a year ago."
Meanwhile in England, Martin Revis (Christian Century) notes that the Christian Muslim Forum issued a statement yesterday: "We stand shoulder to shoulder with Iraqi Christians to confront the terror and fear that this important part of Iraqi society now faces, emphasising that these terrorist attacks will not succeed in dividing us and destroying the great values that we share, and our long history of peaceful coexistence."
Now turning to the Mandaeans. This group goes back centuries -- and may date back to Antiquity -- and now is estimated to number less than 100,000. Until the Iraq War began, the majority of Mandaens could be found in Iraq. Like other religious minorities, they've become external refugees (many have fled to Iran, others to Syira and Jordan and a small number have left the Middle East). It's estimated that as much as 90% of the community has left Iraq since the start of the Iraq War. In 2007, US professor Nathaniel Deutsch wrote a column for the New York Times calling for the US to grant this community refugee status (which did take place) and noting, "Unlike Christian and Muslim refugees, the Mandeans do not belong to a larger religious community that can provide them with protection and aid. Fundamentally alone in the world, the Mandeans are even more vulnerable and fewer than the Yazidis, another Iraqi minority that has suffered tremendously, since the latter have their own villages in the generally safer nother, while the Mandeans are scattered in pockets around the south. They are the only minority group in Iraq without a safe enclave." Nadia Keilani is an Iraqi-American, an attorney and a Mandean. In 2008, she explained for CNN: "I belong to a religious minority called Mandaean, also known as Sabeans or Sabean-Mandaean. We are a Gnostic sect that claims Adam as the first in a line of "teachers" and John the Baptist as the last. Even today, our baptisms are conducted in the same manner that John the Baptist baptized Jesus and others of his time. Mandaeanism is a pacifist religion that forbids violence even in defense of life. In the anarchy that is today's Iraq, this has proved fatal to the existence of this small but important part of human religious history." The water issue is important to the faith when resettling. Lakes and rivers being ideal due to the baptisms. Settling is not a small issue and it goes beyond the issue of needing to be near a body of water. Keilani noted, "To be a Mandaean, you must be born to two Mandaean parents. To survive, Mandaean communities must exist in large enough numbers for young people to meet, marry and have children. Since 2003, the number of Mandaeans inside Iraq has dwindled to fewer than 5,000. Tens of thousands are scattered throughout Europe, Australia and the United States. The results of this diaspora are clear: Our religion probably will cease to exist in my children's lifetime."
Today Matthew Hay Brown (Baltimore Sun) notes that there are problems resettling this refugee community and notes that Dr. Wisam Breegi argues that if the community is not resettled together, "it will disappear." In September, IRIN reported on the Mandeans who fled Iraq for Syria due to being targeted and IRIN noted, "UNHCR does give special consideration to refugees 'who have special needs based on various vulnerabilities,' but religion is not counted as one of those." Russell Contreras (AP) quotes UNHCR's Vincent Cochetel stating, "It makes sense to keep them together, but no one nation can provide them with effective protection. Nations also have to take into consideration affordable housing available. That's just the social reality."
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