CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O MADE SURE THAT HIS DUTIES AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF DID NOT INTERFERE WITH HIS DESIRES TO COURT THE WORLD PRESS AND HAS JUST FINISHED A FIVE DAY LATIN AMERICA TOUR WHICH HE LEFT FOR WHILE STARTING A WAR WITH LIBYA.
HE TOLD THESE REPORTERS, "PEOPLE THINK I'M JUST TITS AND ASS, TITS AND ASS."
ASKED WHAT THAT HAD TO DO WITH ANYTHING, BARRY O SHRUGGED AND OFFERED TO POSE SHIRTLESS.
BACK IN CHICAGO, HIS ONE TIME FRIENDS ARE BEGINNING TO SHARE HOW THE FACADE WAS CREATED.
SNAPPED BARRY O, "I BET THIS IS HOW MADONNA FELT WHEN SHE LEARNED HER BROTHER WAS WRITING A TELL-ALL! I'VE GOT TO DO A SEX BOOK!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Alsumaria TV reports that Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and thug of the occupation, has declared Iraq to be "the most stable country in the region." Nouri was speaking at an agricultural conference. Nayla Razzouk and Kadhim Ajrash (Bloomberg News) report that Iraq is need of foreign investment in order for "the country [to] become self-sufficient in grains within three years" and they note that Nouri asserted that Iraq currently is able to produce "half of its grain needs." Oops! Nouri didn't pay attention because Alsumaria reports that Sunday the US Embassy in Baghdad's Ron Verdonk was explaining "that Iraq imports 80% of its annual wheat consumption and 90% of its annual rice consumption". UPI adds that the plan is for Iraq to be "self-sufficient by 2014" when it comes to grain. Related, today is World Water Day. AFP reported yesterday that the UN has declared Iraq is wasting 50% of its water resources. Alsumaria TV quotes a UNICEF statement: "Iraq faces difficulties in meeting the target of 91 percent of households using a safe drinking water supply by 2015" and "One in five or around six million Iraqis do not have access to safe water, of which the vast majority are in rural areas." At the start of this month, UNICEF noted:
Unremitting violence not only sets the backdrop of daily life in much of Iraq, it has also weakened governance and crippled the ability of the country to feed, protect and educate its citizenry. Political and economic turmoil has led to the great vulnerabiilty of women and children, who are threatened by poverty, undrenutrition, lack of safe water and sanitation, insufficient educational resources and the prospect of personal violence and abuse. Iraqis must contend with threats of drought, decimated infrastructure and a large population of refugees and internally displaced people. The number of displaced Iraqis is counted in the millions, with a large number of Iraqis seeking refuge in neighouring countries and over a million displaced inside the country since the height of 2006 violence. Reutrn of people to their homes is thwarted by continuing fears and insecurity. Vulnerable Iraqi women and children -- whether in Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon or the Syrian Arab Republic -- require sustained, intense assistance to assure basic living standards and fundamental protection in a context of war, violence and political discord.
Aswat al-Iraq also notes Nouri's claim of stability, "Iraq became one of the most stable countries in the region after a period of violence and divisions." Of course, he leaves not only the violence but the fact that 47,000 or so US troops stationed on Iraqi soil guarantee (thus far) that he can't be toppled. His neighbors can't make the same claim, now can they?
Today Baghdad is slammed with bombings. Aswat al-Iraq notes 2 dead and at least eight injured from five bombings in the capital. Reuters updates that to six bombings with 2 dead and thirteen injured. Hisham Rikabi (Al Mada) reports that an Iraqi military spokesperson, Maj Gen Qassim Atta, is blaming the resurgence of assassinations and liquidations of government and security officials on opponents upon "criminal gangs and terrorists." Noting the recent assassinations of members of the Ministries of Oil and Defense, Dar Addustour reports that the police are stating that the assailants are using silencers and that people are blaming this increase on the fact that there is still no Minister of the Interior or Minister of Defense. (There is also still no Minister of National Security but that's not mentioned in the article.) Reuters reports one or two police officers were killed in clashes with protesters in the KRG village of Halabja.
Today Baghdad is slammed with bombings. Aswat al-Iraq notes 2 dead and at least eight injured from five bombings in the capital. Reuters updates that to six bombings with 2 dead and thirteen injured. Hisham Rikabi (Al Mada) reports that an Iraqi military spokesperson, Maj Gen Qassim Atta, is blaming the resurgence of assassinations and liquidations of government and security officials on opponents upon "criminal gangs and terrorists." Noting the recent assassinations of members of the Ministries of Oil and Defense, Dar Addustour reports that the police are stating that the assailants are using silencers and that people are blaming this increase on the fact that there is still no Minister of the Interior or Minister of Defense. (There is also still no Minister of National Security but that's not mentioned in the article.) Reuters reports one or two police officers were killed in clashes with protesters in the KRG village of Halabja.
Dar Addustour reports that a senior citizen took his own life in Baghdad (he hanged himself) because he couldn't afford the cost of providing for his family (which included two children who may have been young or may have been kids). Amer Qaisi pens a column for Al Mada entitled "The Road to Liberation Square." "Liberation Square" is what protesters have re-named Baghdad's Tahrir Square. Qaisi notes that every Friday the government attempts to block demonstrators from arriving at Liberation Square. Qaisi notes that protesters must travel between pits and piles of garbage to approach "Liberation Square" and then they encounter closed bridges and roads roped off with barbed wire to prevent vehicles from going an futher. All of this and the harrassment and abuse of journalists and protesters indicate that the Iraqi government doesn't want to hear the voices making demands. Every Friday, Qasi continues, they must face the same scene all over again as well as the fear mongering of "al Qaeda!" and "Ba'athists!" No one believes Nouri has a magic wand nor that he'll discover Aladdin's lamp but the protests will continue and the protesters will continue to make their demands.
Many voices: Ka-thab.
Jane Arraf: There's a new song in town.
Many voices: Ka-thab.
Jane Arraf: Kathab in Iraqi Abaric means "liar." You hear the chant at every protest in Baghdad -- usually linked with the prime minister's name, Nouri al-Maliki. And when you ask protesters what Maliki's lied about, there's a long list starting with Maliki's claim that Saddam loyalists, Ba'athists, are behind the protests. Yanar Mohammad is a women's activist.
Yanar Mohammad: Mr. Maliki tells us that we are Ba'athists. And our answer to him is that we all suffered under the Ba'ath. Many of us escaped. Many of us went into prisons. And we did suffer in the previous era of the Ba'athists but now in these eight years also millions are suffering, hundreds are being tortured right now in Maliki's prisons. What about those people? Why doesn't he answer to that? He says we're either Ba'athists or we are from al Qaeda. Why is he lying?
Jane Arraf: Mohammad says she's so angry, she wants to storm the Green Zone where the government is based. In Baghdad's Liberation Square, the protests attract all kinds of people. Majdi Abdul Khalif is talented enough to have taught himself English from the movies and how to fix cell phones. But he can't find a job.
Majdi Abdul Khalif: Our patience is finished. To tell you the truth, we've seen the changes in Egypt and Tunisia and we need to try that.
One of the demands the protesters have made is for an end to corruption. Dar Addustour reports that the Integrity Commission informed inspector generals yesterday that they could not hide files and that all reports on corruption in institutions will be turned over to the Commission. Al Rafidayn details a few investigations including one involving Ministry of the Interior employees, one of which was caught blackmailing employees of a Baghdad police station.
As noted in the March 14th snapshot, Gen Numan Dakhil, head of Nouri's Rapid Reaction Brigade in Baghdad was caught by the Integrity Commission investigators taking a $50,000 bribe and ordered his forces to attack the IC investigators, leaveing nine injured, three of which required hospitalization. He was later cornered in a Baghdad shoot out before finally surrendering. Nouri's Rapid Reaction Brigade is back in the news. Al Rafidayn reports that the group is being criticized -- along with the US military -- for raids that have been taking place in Diwaniya Province. The Provincial Council's Deputy Chair has called out the raids noting that contents of homes have been destroyed and the inhabitants terrorized by the joint forces and that these raids have taken place "without the knowledge of the local government." He also expressed his surprise that, Baghdad being 180 km from Diwaniyah Province, the Rapid Reaction Brigade would be utilized. He also accused the US forces of deliberately taking part in the raids in order to antagonize the Sadrists in the province and cause them to retaliate.
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
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