Saturday, October 27, 2012

THIS JUST IN! BARRY GETS BITCHY!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

AS IF THE TOUGH QUESTIONS AROUND BENGHAZI WEREN'T CAUSING CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O ENOUGH PROBLEMS,  HE'S BEEN CAUGHT REFERRING TO HIS OPPONENT AS A "BULLSH**TER" WHICH, THOUGH BITCHY, ISN'T PRESIDENTIAL.


THIS AS THE LOS ANGELES TIMES REPORTS HE "ATTACKED" MITT ROMNEY'S CHARACTER IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.  BUT WHILE HE PLAYS BITCH BARRY, THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IS CALLING FOR COOPERATION BETWEEN THE TWO MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES.

MAYBE IT'S HARD TO BE ANYTHING BUT BITCHY WHEN YOU'RE BEING CALLED OUT FOR BENGHAZI BY A RETIRED MILITARY COLONEL AND FORMER NBC NEWS ANALYST AND BY A U.S. SENATOR?  WHEN EVEN AL GORE'S CURRENT TV HAS POSTED THE STORY ABOUT YOU REFUSING TO SEND HELP AND ORDERING PEOPLE TO STAND DOWN DURING THE ATTACKS?  WHEN EVEN ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, THAT STORY IS NOW GETTING OUT?

FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Iran's Press TV also manages to address issues and not resort to 'look at the cranky old guy' nonsense.  Colin Powell lied and help sell the war.  That's reality.  He did a tiny pivot as the press turned on the illegal war.  The summer of 2005, Cindy Sheehan's actions (Camp Casey at Crawford) forced questions to be asked.  Colin could see the writing on the wall and did a tiny pivot.  Which is who in September 2005, he goes on air with Barbara Walters pretending that he was misled.  There were lies spoken, but he didn't know they were lies!  And it was a "blot," he declared, on his image.  As Ava and I noted, he was still for the war, he wasn't calling out the war and he was lying about not knowing -- State Dept staff had repeatedly told him that the claims were lies.  He knew they were lies before he said them. Colin Powell is a cheap liar and his lies resulted in the deaths of nearly two million Iraqis.
 
A few months after that interview with Barbara Walters, Collie's Girl Friday Lawrence Wilkerson started making the media rounds, acting a surrogate for a truth-barren Powell, creating fancy lies for the AP and MSNBC and so many more but, as Norman Solomon (Cold Type) pointed out in November 2005, it wasn't believable:
 
Rest assured that if the war had gone well by Washington's lights, we'd be hearing none of this from Powell's surrogate. The war has gone bad, from elite vantage points, not because of the official lies and the unrelenting carnage but because military victory has eluded the U.S. government in Iraq. And with President Bush's poll numbers tanking, and Dick Cheney's even worse, it's time for some "moderate" sharks to carefully circle for some score-settling and preening.
 
In his speech to the American Legion -- a group that is interested in the Iraq War (even if New York 'magazine' isn't) -- McCain noted that Colin Powell is going ga-ga in public about how Barack ended the Iraq War (someone forgot to tell Iraq -- and Al Mada notes today Moqtada al-Sadr is calling out the continued US efforts to occupy Iraq).  That's not surprising.
 
 
McCain is right, this is duplicity. 
 
And it's so sad to see supposed lefties rush in to defend Colin Powell.  Before Bully Boy Bush physically occupied the Oval Office, Robert Parry and Norman Solomon were writing a series about the reality of Colin Powell (start with "Behind Colin Powell's Legend").  And Powell's lies did not start in 2003.  September 5, 2002, Norman Solomon (FAIR) was warning about the reality of Colin:
 
 
Media coverage is portraying Powell as a steady impediment to a huge assault on Iraq. But closer scrutiny would lead us to different conclusions.
Instead of undermining prospects for a military conflagration, Powell's outsized prestige is a very useful asset for the war planners. The retired general "is seen by many of Washington's friends and allies abroad as essential to the credibility of Bush's foreign policy," the French news agency AFP noted as September began.
Avid participation in deplorable actions has been integral to Powell's career. A few examples:
Serving as a top deputy to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, Powell supervised the Army's transfer of 4,508 TOW missiles to the CIA in January 1986. Nearly half of those missiles became part of the Reagan administration's arms-for-hostages swap with Iran. Powell helped to hide that transaction from Congress and the public. As President Reagan's national security adviser, Powell became a key operator in U.S. efforts to overthrow the elected government of Nicaragua. When he traveled to Central America in January 1988, Powell threatened a cutoff of U.S. aid to any country in the region that refused to go along with continued warfare by the contra guerrillas, who were in the midst of killing thousands of Nicaraguan civilians. Powell worked to prevent the success of a peace process initiated by Costa Rica's president, Oscar Arias. When U.S. troops invaded Panama on Dec. 20, 1989, Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He had "emerged as the crucial figure in the decision to invade," according to British newspaper reporter Martin Walker. Hundreds of civilians died in the first hours of the invasion. Powell declared on that day: "We have to put a shingle outside our door saying, 'Superpower lives here.'" In late 2000, while Bush operatives went all-out during the Florida recount to grab the electoral votes of a state where many thousands of legally qualified African Americans had been prevented from voting due to Republican efforts, Powell went to George W. Bush's ranch in Texas to pose for a photo-op and show support for his presidential quest.
 
 
 
Colin Powell was for the illegal war.  Ann Wright was at the State Department.  The former military colonel resigned the day before the start of the illegal war and did so publicly.  From her resignation letter:
 
I wrote this letter five weeks ago and held it hoping that the Administration would not go to war against Iraq at this time without United Nations Security Council agreement. I strongly believe that going to war now will make the world more dangerous, not safer.
There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein is a despicable dictator and has done incredible damage to the Iraqi people and others of the region. I totally support the international community's demand that Saddam's regime destroy weapons of mass destruction.
However, I believe we should not use US military force without UNSC agreement to ensure compliance. In our press for military action now, we have created deep chasms in the international community and in important international organizations. Our policies have alienated many of our allies and created ill will in much of the world.
Countries of the world supported America's action in Afghanistan as a response to the September 11 Al Qaida attacks on America. Since then, America has lost the incredible sympathy of most of the world because of our policy toward Iraq. Much of the world considers our statements about Iraq as arrogant, untruthful and masking a hidden agenda. Leaders of moderate Moslem/Arab countries warn us about predicable outrage and anger of the youth of their countries if America enters an Arab country with the purpose of attacking Moslems/Arabs, not defending them. Attacking the Saddam regime in Iraq now is very different than expelling the same regime from Kuwait, as we did ten years ago.
I strongly believe the probable response of many Arabs of the region and Moslems of the world if the US enters Iraq without UNSC agreement will result in actions extraordinarily dangerous to America and Americans. Military action now without UNSC agreement is much more dangerous for America and the world than allowing the UN weapons inspections to proceed and subsequently taking UNSC authorized action if warranted.
I firmly believe the probability of Saddam using weapons of mass destruction is low, as he knows that using those weapons will trigger an immediate, strong and justified international response. There will be no question of action against Saddam in that case. I strongly disagree with the use of a "preemptive attack" against Iraq and believe that this preemptive attack policy will be used against us and provide justification for individuals and groups to "preemptively attack" America and American citizens.
The international military build-up is providing pressure on the regime that is resulting in a slow, but steady disclosure of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). We should give the weapons inspectors time to do their job. We should not give extremist Moslems/ Arabs a further cause to hate America, or give moderate Moslems a reason to join the extremists. Additionally, we must reevaluate keeping our military forces in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Their presence on the Islamic "holy soil" of Saudi Arabia will be an anti-American rally cry for Moslems as long as the US military remains and a strong reason, in their opinion, for actions against the US government and American citizens.
 
 
Ann Wright was able to do the right thing but Colin Powell's entire life has been about doing the wrong thing, about lying to advance his own personal interests and doing so at the expense of many innocent civilians.  That has been Colin Powell's chosen path for decades and to pretend that he is qualified for anything other than an arraignment hearing for War Crimes, is to be less than honest.  The whoring has to stop.  Even prostitutes -- real ones, not press whores -- will draw the line and say there are some tricks they will not turn.  Sadly our sex workers have stronger ethics than those who compose what passes for a modern day press. 
 
And Colin Powell sure is a happy little talker.  When he has a book to promote, he runs ot the media, when he's being paid six figures, he rushes off to the convention.  But Powell does nothing that doesn't enrich his own pockets. 
 
Where's the 'good' general's concern for those who served?  What has he ever done, for example, to assist those whose health was destroyed by exposure to various chemicals due to military burn pits?  Erin Jordan (Cedar Rapids Gazette) reports on Joshua Casteel's recent death and how his family believes that burn pit exposure while serving in Iraq is what caused the cancer.  Joshua Casteel is only the most recent tragedy.  August 10th came news that Iraq War veteran Russell Keith had died.  November 6, 2009, at the Democratic Policy Committee hearing Russell Keith testified,  "While I was stationed at Balad, I experienced the effects of the massive burn pit that burned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The ten-acre pit was located in the northwest corner of the base. An acrid, dark black smoke from the pit would accumulate and hang low over the base for weeks at a time. Every spot on the base was touched by smoke from the pit; everyone who served at the base was exposed to the smoke. It was almost impossible to escape, even in our living units."  May 17th, it was Iraq War veteran Dominick J. Ligouri.  If Colin Powell gave a damn about anyone other than himself -- even only in recent years -- he would be doing something to speak out and raise awareness on an issue that mattered.  But as he churns out one co (ghost) - written book after another, it's all about enriching his own pockets.
 
Even now, in the face of what his lies have caused, he can only think about enriching his own pockets.  Last night, Iraq War veteran Ross Caputi (Guardian) observed:
 
Four new studies on the health crisis in Fallujah have been published in the last three months. Yet, one of the most severe public health crises in history, for which the US military may be to blame, receives no attention in the United States.
Ever since two major US-led assaults destroyed the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004, Fallujans have witnessed dramatic increases in rates of cancers, birth defects and infant mortality in their city. Dr Chris Busby, the author and co-author of two studies on the Fallujah heath crisis, has called this "the highest rate of genetic damage in any population ever studied".
In the years since the 2004 sieges, Fallujah was the most heavily guarded city in all of Iraq. All movement in and out of Fallujah was monitored by the occupying forces. The security situation made it nearly impossible to get word out about Fallujans' nascent health crisis. One of the first attempts to report on the crisis was at the seventh session of the UN Human Rights Council in the form of the report, Prohibited Weapons Crisis: The Effects of Pollution on the Public Health in Fallujah by Dr Muhamad Al-Darraji. This report was largely ignored. It wasn't until the first major study on the health crisis was published in 2010 that the issue received mainstream media attention in the UK and Europe.
To this day, though, there has yet to be an article published in a major US newspaper, or a moment on a mainstream American TV news network, devoted to the health crisis in Fallujah. The US government has made no statements on the issue, and the American public remains largely uninformed about the indiscriminate harm that our military may have caused.
 
All the dead, all the wounded, all the blood on the hands of liars like Colin Powell but because he rushed to endorse Barack Obama, some media whores want to pretend like he's someone to listen to and not someone to be tossed behind bars?
 

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Friday, October 26, 2012

THIS JUST IN! BARRY O STRUGGLES!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O IS FINDING IT HARD TO KEEP HIS HOPES AFLOAT.  LEFT WING COUNTERPUNCH ADMITS BARRY O IS A CONSERVATIVE.

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORTS NOTES BARRY O NEEDS TO COME CLEAN ABOUT BENGHAZI.

AND HE'S TRYING TO 'SEX' UP HIS ACT WITH TIRED HUMOR.

POOR BARRY O.  THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CAKE WALK.

INSTEAD IT'S FEELING LIKE A DUMP CAKE.

 FROM THE TCI WIRE:


 
In the US presidential race, incumbent Barack Obama notched up a high profile endorsement and, were I British Socialist who let my freak flag fly in alternatve UK publications but pretended to be New Labour when writing for a daily paper, I'd be all gaa-gaa-goo-goo.  But not having whored my soul out thus far, I'll instead note that Barack has received the endorsement of War Criminal Colin Powell.
 
2008 pledged delegate for Barack to the DNC Norman Solomon described Collie Powell's past this way at ZNet in 2003: 
 
Tacit erasure of inconvenient history -- including his own -- is integral to the warm relationship between Powell and U.S. news media.  There's a lot to erase.  For instance, in January 1986, serving as a top aide to Pentagon chief Caspar Weinberger, he supervised the transfer of 4,508 TOW missiles to the CIA, and then sought to hide the transaction from Congress and the public.  No wonder: Almost half of those missiles had become part of the Iran-Contra scandal's arms-for-hostages deal.
As President Reagan's national security adviser, Powell worked diligently on behalf of the contra guerrillas who were killing civilians in Nicaragua.  In December 1989, Powell -- at that point the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- was a key player behind the invasion of Panama.
The Gulf War catapulted Powell to the apex of American poliical stardom in early 1991.  When he was asked about the Iraqi death toll from the war, Powell said that such numbers didn't interest him.
 
The numbers of the dead didn't interest him?  In 2003, Jack Kelly (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) reported on demographer and Carnegie Mellon University professor Beth Daponte's estimates "that 158,000 Iraqis -- 86,194 men, 39.612 women and 32,195 children -- had perished in the war and its aftermath."  Those numbers don't interest Colin, not even the children, not even the 32,195 children.   American Everyman covers today's endorsement with a post entiteld "Liar, Neocon, War-Criminal Colin Powell Endorses Obama -- 'I think we ought to keep on the path we are on'."  In 2008, Collie endorsed Barack as well leading Joe Mowrey (Dissident Voice) to revisit some of the high water marks (waterboarding marks?) on Powell's criminal record:
 
Powell is the guy who, as a bright young 31 year old Army Major, did his level best to keep information about the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam from becoming public. Specifically, he was charged with investigating a letter from a whistle-blowing soldier giving detailed accounts of many of the atrocities committed by U.S. military personnel in Vietnam under the auspices of the Phoenix Program. That program was a lovely little package of war crimes intended to "identify and neutralize (via infiltration, capture, or murder) the civilian infrastructure supporting the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (the Viet Cong)." In other words, it was a U.S. and South Vietnamese death squad operation which rampaged through the country side slaughtering civilians and burning down entire villages. You know, capturing the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people. Powell summed up his investigation of the whistle-blower's accusations by saying, "In direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent."
Well that's enough for me. If Powell endorsed the rousing success of the Phoenix Program, what more do we need to know? Queried about his participation in the attempted white wash of My Lai, some 40 years later Powell said, "I mean, I was in a unit that was responsible for My Lai. I got there after My Lai happened. So, in war, these sorts of horrible things happen every now and again…" Personally, I think he sounds really sorry. And he's seems to be bashing Republicans these days, so I like him a lot.
Fast forward to 2003. Then Secretary of State, Powell, made a triumphant speech to the United Nations outlining the urgent need for us to invade Iraq in a war of aggression in order to eliminate the massive amounts of weapons of mass destruction which Saddam Hussein was going to use to invade and destroy the United States. Thank Buddha that Powell was able to use his dignity and gravitas to convince the world of the imminent danger. Imagine where we might be today without his steadfast endorsement of that magnificent war crime. I don't know about you, but I wasn't into wearing a turban and having Saddam Hussein's picture on the one dollar bill. I shudder to think of Brittany Spears in a burka. Of course, it's a bit unfortunate that Powell's speech to the U.N. was a pack of outright fabrications and lies. But I've forgiven him by now, especially since he's decided to come out in favor our Our Guy Obama.
 
 
Iran-Contra, My Lai, the Iraq War -- he's sort of like the Forest Gump of Death and Destruction. But with Collie, there's never enough room to include all the harm he's done.  For instance, few writers bother to note the way he savaged Bill Clinton's plan to allow gays to serve openly in the military.  Collie was the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff back then.  Today, we realize how awful homophobia is.  If Collie hadn't stood in Bill's way, think of how much better life could have been for LGBTs that much sooner.  Think of the people who wouldn't have been kicked out of the military.  Collie's never apologized for his homophobic.  He dropped his objection a few years back and for that we're all supposed to be grateful? 
 
Earlier this year, when Collie needed some media attention and was flirting with endorsing Barack, Bill Perdue (FireDogLake) observed, "The fact that Powell is once again endorsing Obama means that Powell feels safe that he won't be indicted as a war criminal as long as Obama continues wars of aggression and that he agrees with Obama's war policy, which will enlarge and expand these wars causing more deaths and putting the finishing touches on the destruction of our economy and standard of living."
 
Collie The Blot Powell.  Having sold the Iraq War with a lying testimony to the United Nations, Collie appeared shocked that illegal war might go wrong.  As he rushed to get out of a sinking administration in the fall of 2005, he sat down with mother-confessor Barbara Walters to serve up more self-serving half-truths.  As Ava and I noted after that aired:
 
Walters says, unable to look at him while she does -- oh the drama!, "However, you gave the world false, groundless reasons for going to war. You've said, and I quote, 'I will forever be known as the one who made the case for war.' Do you think this blot on your record will stay with you for the rest of your life?"

Powell: Well it's a, it's a, of course it will. It's a blot. I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United Nations, uh, United States, to the world. And it will always be uh, part of my, uh, my record.

Walters: How painful is it?

Powell: (shrugs) It was -- it *was* painful. (shifts, shrugs) It's painful now.

Has a less convincing scene ever been performed?
 
Medea Benjamin and Charles Davids (Antiwar.com) observed last June that Powell continues to refuse to take accountability for his actions, "In other words, according to Powell, the fact that he lied to the American public as well as the international community on the eve of a disastrous war is not his fault — heavens no — but the fault of his anonymous underlings, the allegedly timid State Department staffers who lacked the courage to speak truth to their courageous boss. Like many of Powell's anecdotes, it's a tidy little story about leadership that's about as truthful as his U.N. speech."  And just last June, Veterans for Peace, Chapter 92 ("Greater Seattle")  geared up to protest Colin's visit to the area, "Please join members of Greater Seattle Veterans For Peace as we protest the Seattle appearance of former US Army General and Secretary of State Colin Powell. Powell will be the guest of Seattle's City Club and is promoting his new book, It Worked For Me."  I don't know which is worse: Getting the endorsement of a War Criminal or being unable to call out a War Criminal who's endorsed you.
 
Last night, Rebecca noted that Terry O'Neill and NOW were in violation of the law with the mailing Terry sent out yesterday.  NOW cannot send that mailing and it cannot be listed as coming from NOW.  This is is explained in number 8 of NOW's Faqs online, "NOW's Political Action Committee, or NOW/PAC, supports candidates in federal elections (for Congress and the Presidency.)  You must be a member of NOW to contribute to NOW/PAC.  NOW/PAC is the only part of the national organization that can endorse federal political candidates."  That's pretty damn clear to everyone . . . except Terry O'Neill.  So Terry sent out an e-mail tarring and feathering Mitt Romney for what some other Republican in a race stated.  Guilt by association was the card Terry played.  Colin Powell endorsed Barack.  Despite NOW's supposed (post-Mother Of Us All) commitment to LGBT equality, don't expect NOW or Terry to utter a word.  The endorsement is both offensive and telling.  But you can buy the silence of whores.
 
And expect many to be silent today as the Butcher of Baghdad himself, Collie The Blot Powell, makes an endorsement and expects the world to take him seriously.  Colin Powell is a War Criminal.  He shouldn't be making endorsements, he should be serving hard time behind bars.  Why might Barack embrace a War Criminal?  Because they're two of a kind?  Timothy P. Carney (Washington Examiner) observes:
 
 
President Obama has killed hundreds of civilians, including women and children, in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia through a drone war aimed at exterminating the suspected terrorists on his unprecedented and ever-expanding "kill list" — a list that has included U.S. citizens.
In Iraq, Obama tried to perpetuate the U.S. occupation past his promised date for withdrawal, and after Iraqi leaders wanted American troops to leave.
In Libya, Obama illegally intervened in a civil war, sending U.S. fighter jets and missiles to kill a dictator who posed no threat to America. The aftermath of this unauthorized war: a coup in neighboring Mali paired with the rise of al Qaeda in that country, and a terrorist attack in Libya ending in the death of four Americans.
Amid real successes — such as the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, and ultimately ending the occupation of Iraq — Obama's foreign policy has been riddled with failures, scandals and mistakes. But if you watched this week's debate or follow this election cycle's media coverage, you would assume Obama has been throwing a perfect game around the planet.
 
 
While Barack makes nice with War Criminals, he continues to attack whistle blowers.  In a smart move by WikiLeaks, they're back in the news.  Charles Miranda (News Limited Network) reports,  "The whistleblowing website tonight released five restricted files from the US Department of Defense, including the standard operating procedure manual for Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay.  Over the next month, the website will publish more than 100 classified documents covering operating procedures at detention camps in Iraq and Cuba."  Reuters quotes Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, stating, "'The Detainee Policies' show the anatomy of the beast that is post-9/11 detention, the carving out of a dark space where law and rights do not apply, where persons can be detained without a trace at the convenience of the U.S. Department of Defense.  It shows the excesses of the early days of war against an unknown 'enemy' and how these policies matured and evolved."
 
Julian Assange's attorneys should pay attention.  This is how you make people give a damn about WikiLeaks, not by resting on past glories.  The past is the past and can't be taken away.  You want to make the case for Julian Assange's supposed importance, you do it with what WikiLeaks can do, not what it did a few years ago.
 


RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot "
"Nouri's power grab and plans to occupy"
"The murder of Zia Medhi"
"Pregnancy talk"
"Anchorage and more"
"Benghazi"
"the i.r.s. needs to audit n.o.w."
"The e-mails are proof"
"Benghazi-gate"
"So many questions the White House needs to answer"
"Benghazi"
"Afifa Iskandar"
"Benghazi and Barack"
"Robert Gibbs: World's Best Parent"
"THIS JUST IN! THE PARENTING OF ROBERT GIBBS!"
Posted by at

Thursday, October 25, 2012

THIS JUST IN! THE PARENTING OF ROBERT GIBBS!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

 YESTERDAY CAME NEWS THAT BARRY O'S ORIGINAL PLUS-SIZE MODEL ROBERT GIBBS HAD DECIDED TO OFFER PARENTING TIPS. 

ON BARRY O'S ASSASSINATION OF 16-YEAR-OLD AMERICAN CITIZEN ABDULRAHMAN AL-AWLAKI, GIBBS OFFERED, "I WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE A FAR MORE RESPONSIBLE FATHER IF THEY ARE TRULY CONCERNED ABOUT THE WELL BEING OF THEIR CHILDREN."

THIS MORNING, WITH THESE REPORTERS, GIBBS EXPLAINED HE HAD 'BIRTHED' 42 "BUTT CHILDREN AND I BREAST FED EVERYONE.  IN FACT, I AM STILL BREAST FEEDING ONE BECAUSE HE'S YET TO TURN 19."

THOUGH HE'S 'BUTT BIRTHED' 42 CHILDREN, ONLY 17 ARE LIVING.  GIBBS EXPLAINED THAT HE SAW TERRORIST TENDENCIES IN SOME "SO I KILLED THEM" WHILE AT LEAST 5 OTHERS TOOK THEIR OWN LIVES WHEN THEY SAW THEIR REFLECTIONS IN A MIRROR.

"I THINK YOU SHOULD KILL ANY CHILD WHO MIGHT BE A TERRORIST," GIBBS EXPLAINS.  "I HAD THIS 1 CHILD IN DAY CARE AND SHE DID NOT WANT TO SHARE CRAYONS.  SO I BROKE HER NECK.  PERSONALLY.  DID IT MYSELF.  JUST WALKED UP BEHIND HER AND SNAPPED IT.  LIKE A TWIG.  THAT'S GOOD PARENTING.  I FEEL LIKE ANN-MARGARET IN WHO WILL LOVE MY CHILDREN, YOU KNOW?"

"EXCEPT," GIBBS SAID SLAPPING HIS OWN ASS, "ANN-MARGARET DOESN'T HAVE ALL THIS!  THAT'S RIGHT, BABY GOT BACK!"


FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Reporting for the Pentagon's American Forces Press Service, Jim Garamone notes Lt Gen Mark P. Hertling expressed doubt on Tuesday as to what Iraq might become -- democracy or something else, "They are still struggling and it pains me to watch it."  He also stated, "There was a lot of blood and sweat and tears and hard work put into that country by American soldiers."  Joel Gehrke (Washington Examiner) ties "the general's misgivings about the insurgency and Iraqi security forces" to comments made by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the debate Monday as well as to those of Senator John McCain who has stated, "Iraq is going to hell in a hand-basket.  Al Qaida has doubled there presence there.  There are al Qaida training camps in Western Iraq. . . . I've got to hand it to the president to [be able] to say things [in the debate] that in my view defy reality."
 
Let's stay with the debate for a moment.  The increasingly dishonest Stephen M. Walt is aghast at Foreign Policy over the 'neocons' advising Mitt Romney.   Here's an example of the dishonesty:
 
 
To be fair, an awful lot of supposedly sensible Democrats supported the war too, including a lot of senior officials in the Obama administration. But they didn't dream up the war or work overtime to sell it from 1998 onward. They just went along with the idea because they thought it was politically expedient, they couldn't imagine how it might go south, or they were convinced that Saddam was a Very Bad Man and that it was our duty to "liberate" the Iraqi people from him. They were right about Saddam's character, of course, but occupying the entire country turned out to be a pretty stupid way of dealing with him.
 
 
You have to be a huge liar to say "to be fair" and then proceed not to be fair.  Barack's had necons throughout his administration.  We regularly call out Victoria Nuland who is better known as Mrs. Robert Kagan and who is even better known as Dick Cheney's National Security Adivsor (2003 to 2005).   In February 2011, whistle blower Sibel Edmonds (Boiling Frogs) noted some of the many neocons serving in Barack's administration: Marc Grossman, Dennis Ross and Frederick Kagan (that would be Victoria Nuland's brother-in-law).  In 2010,  Kristine Frazao (Russia Today -- link is video and text) thought Kagan's addition was so important, she did a report on just that, opening with, "They're ba-a-a-ck!  The US government may be done with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld but another neoconservative is returning to the government payroll.  That same year, Allen McDuffee (ThinkTanked) observed, "Because we overinflated the impact of neoconservatives during the Bush administration and paid little attention to them before that, we're missing the fact that neocons are having the same influence in the Obama administration they've always had, according to a report issued by the Brookings Institution." And if we drop back another year, we can land on Jacob Heilbrunn's Huffington Post report from May of 2009 which opened:
 
This morning leading neoconservatives such as William Kristol and Robert Kagan held a meeting at the Mayflower Hotel -- in support of President Obama's Afghanistan policy. Kristol and Kagan, as Foreign Policy's Laura Rozen has reported, have formed a successor organization to the Project for the New American Century, which came into disrepute for its advocacy of the Iraq War. The new one is called the Foreign Policy Initiative. Its contention is that America remains, in the words of Madeleine Albright, the "indispensable nation"and, furthermore, that neocons can play a valuable role in coming years in ensuring that it remains one.
 
 
So Walt's sudden concern about the neocons return to power is rather disingenuous.  Return to power?  When Barack brought them into his administration?  His insincerity and lack of scruples go a long way towards explaining why many of the people who applauded him just five years ago wouldn't cross the street to greet him today. 
 
 
On Monday night, we heard President Obama and Governor Romney each profess their love of militarism.
The president boasted, "We spend more on our military than the next 10 countries combined; China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, you name it." Then his opponent called for increasing the military budget even more! It was the president who called the United States the "one indispensible nation," but both candidates showed their love of U.S. exceptionalism and exhibited paternalistic worldviews.
That is not the way I see our relationship with our sisters and brothers across the globe.
 
 
Mark Johnson is posting from Basra, he's back in Iraq.  Barack's taken a distortion (lie) he made in the debate and turned it into a new ad which Glenn Kessler (Washington Post) gives  three Pinocchios.  Among other things, the ad proclaims, "Mitt Romney would have left thirty thousand troops there [Iraq]."  Kessler reviews how the Status Of Force Agreement (negotiated under the Bush administration) was coming to an end and the Barack administration attempted to negotiate another agreement.  The deal faltered on the issue of immunity.  But even after it was seen as faltering, negotiations continued (and still continue -- but we will get to that).

This was established by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey (Chair of the Joint Chiefs) appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee November 15, 2011 (for reporting on that hearing,  see  "Iraq snapshot,"  "Iraq snapshot,"  "Iraq snapshot."  Ava reported on it with "Scott Brown questions Panetta and Dempsey (Ava),"  Wally reported on it with "The costs (Wally)" and Kat reported on it with "Who wanted what?").  By November 15th, the press had been telling you for weeks that negotiations were over.  But that's not what Senator Joe Lieberman and Panetta were saying at the hearing.  Excerpt.

Senator Joe Lieberman:  Let me, Secretary Panetta, pick up from that point. I've heard from friends in Iraq -- Iraqis -- that Prime Minister Maliki said at one point that he needed to stop the negotiations -- leave aside for one moment the reasons -- but he was prepared to begin negotiations again between two sovereign nations -- the US and Iraq -- about some troops being in Iraq after January 1st.  So that's what I've heard from there. But I want to ask you from the administration point of view. I know that Prime Minister Maliki is coming here in a few weeks to Washington. Is the administration planning to pursue further discussions with the Iraqi government about deploying at least some US forces in Iraq after the end of this year?
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta: Senator, as I pointed out in my testimony, what we seek with Iraq is a normal relationship now and that does involve continuing negotiations with them as to what their needs are.  Uh, and I believe there will be continuing negotations.  We're in negotiations now with regards to the size of the security office that will be there and so there will be -- There aren't zero troops that are going to be there. We'll have, you know, hundreds that will be present by virtue of that office assuming we can work out an agreement there.  But I think that once we've completed the implementation of the security agreement that there will begin a series of negotiations about what exactly are additional areas where we can be of assistance? What level of trainers do they need? What can we do with regards to CT [Counter-Terrorism] operations? What will we do on exercises -- joint-exercises -- that work together?


As Kessler points out, the administration attempted to negotiate a variation of a SOFA and failed.  Failed.  But the administration wants to spin.  Kessler:


In other words, Obama has spun a diplomatic failure -- an inability to reach a deal with Iraq -- into a "mission accomplished" talking point. In fact, Obama made a dubious claim in the debate that having any troops in Iraq "would not help us in the Middle East."
Since the departure of U.S. troops, the United States has lost leverage in Iraq. For instance, Iran uses Iraqi airspace and convoys on the ground to ferry arms and military equipment to the beleaguered regime in Syria -- a government that Obama says must fall.


And, of course,  Tim Arango (New York Times) reported September 26th:

 
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.
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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

THIS JUST IN! THE FEAR SETS IN!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O WANTS AIR FORCE ONE FOR FOUR MORE YEARS.  WITHOUT IT, HOW WILL HE AND SHE-HULK BE ABLE TO TRAVEL?

BUT AFRAID THAT HE MIGHT BE KICKED OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE, BARRY O IS BRINGING OUT HIS A-GAME.  OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, HE WILL BE EVERYWHERE INCLUDING THE TONIGHT SHOW, MTV AND PROBABLY PARTYING WITH LINDSAY LOHAN IF HONEY BOO BOO WON'T HAVE HIM.

SAID BARRY O TO THESE REPORTERS THIS MORNING, "I AM THE CLOSEST THING AMERICA HAS TO ROYALTY!  I AM, WHY I AM AND AMERICAN PRINCESS!  THEY CAN'T GET RID OF ME!"


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Defense Video & Image Distribution System has the strangest story about how Col Matthe Riordan is leaving Iraq and Lt Col Kim Thomas.  And the photo is confusing as well -- it shows people in what appear to be US army uniforms.  But how could that be?
 
Fact checking last night's debate between US President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney, one outlet after another declared all US troops were out of Iraq, all troops had left.  So, as Joni Mitchell sings, "Help me, I think I'm falling . . ."  And the confusion just continues as Simon Rogers (Guardian) posts a chart from the US Army listing the US Army Deployments in 2012 -- this year.  If all US troops left Iraq at the end of 2011, then surely Iraq did not make the list of "Top 10 Countries" in 2012 for deployment, right?
 
Wait, there it is! Number five on the list of deployments with a little less than 20,000 US troops.  How can that be?  How can we have thousands of US troops in Iraq?  Didn't they all just tell us last night and this morning that all US troops left Iraq at the end of 2011?  How many are present?  Click on map, on Iraq (yes, geography can be hard -- especially for the US press) and you get the number 18,400 ("In 2012 there were 18,400 Army personnel deployed in Iraq"). 
 
So, CNN, you're wrong when you declare all "left Iraq in December 2011." 
 
And, Shashank Bengali (Los Angeles Times), you're wrong when you state: "The last U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq in December." 
 
And also on the dunce list, Susan Cornwell and Lucy Shackelford (Reuters) who maintain:  "The last U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq last December, ending a war launched in March 2003.
 
Why were they and so many others who've been silent for so long finally talking about Iraq?  Because it was a topic that came up last night when Bob Schieffer moderated a debate between the Democratic and Republican party presidential candidates -- President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney.  Covering the exchange,   Glenn Kessler (Washington Post) observed,  "Romney's right -- Obama did try to get a status of forces agreement, but could not get an agreement with the government of Iraq. So now he stresses the fact that he has removed all troops from Iraq, while knocking Romney for supporting what he originally had hoped to achieve."  Also weighing in on Barack's deception is the editorial board of the New Jersey Star-Ledger:
 
The claim is true. The problem is that Obama wanted to keep 10,000 troops on the ground in Iraq as well. He later cut that number to 5,000, and wasn't able to keep even that contingent in place only because his attempts to negotiate an agreement with the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ended in failure. Obama had insisted on a guarantee that the remaining U.S. troops would be immune from criminal prosecution in Iraq, a demand that Maliki refused.
So for Obama to paint Romney as a die-hard combatant in Iraq was beyond misleading. It was a stunt. And given the emotions that still surround the troubled U.S. occupation, and the fact that Obama clearly knew he was being dishonest, he wins the whopper.
 
 
Grace Wyler (Business Insider) also points out, "Romney is actually correct on this point. The status of forces agreement -- put into place in 2008, before Obama took office -- called for a full U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2011. When that time came, the Obama administration tried to work out an extension of the agreement with the Iraqi government that would have kept an unspecified number of U.S. troops (likely between 3,000 and 5,000) in the country to train Iraqi security forces."  John Glaser (Antiwar.com) offers that Barack was dishonest due to the fact that the truth "conflicted with his attempts to claime he ended the war in Iraq."  Jeremy Hammond (Foreign Policy Journal) observes that, in the Iraq exchange, "Romney was being honest and Obama was, well, lying."  From Hammond's analysis:
 
While Obama is fond of taking credit for ending the war in Iraq, in fact, the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) under which all U.S. combat troops were withdrawn at the end of 2011 was signed on November 17, 2008, under the Bush administration. Obama was critical of the SOFA, his publicly stated position being that the troops should be withdrawn sooner. "In contrast," the New York Times noted at the time, "President-elect Obama had campaigned under a promise to withdraw all American combat brigades from Iraq by May 2010".
Obama not only did not keep that promise, but his administration sought since as early as September 2010 to obtain a new agreement with Iraq under which 15,000 to 20,000 combat troops would remain beyond the deadline at the end of 2011; but "Obama insisted that it could only happen if Maliki requested it", wrote investigative historian and journalist Gareth Porter, since the White House "was worried about losing support from the Democratic Party's anti-war base as Congressional mid-term elections approached". The Wall Street Journal similarly pointed out that "Mr. Obama could face a political backlash at home if he doesn't meet his campaign pledge to bring troops home from Iraq", and by April 2011, the U.S. had dropped the number of troops it sought to keep in Iraq down to 10,000. The discussions over a new agreement "face political obstacles in both countries," the Journal also noted, "and have faltered in recent weeks because of Iraqi worries that a continued U.S. military presence could fuel sectarian tension and lead to protests similar to those sweeping other Arab countries".
 
 
None of the fact checkers bothered to acknowledge what  Tim Arango (New York Times) reported September 26th:

 
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.
 
 
 
We don't want another Iraq, we don't want another Afghanistan. That's not the right course for us. The right course for us is to make sure that we go after the - the people who are leaders of these various anti-American groups and these - these jihadists, but also help the Muslim world.
And how do we do that? A group of Arab scholars came together, organized by the U.N., to look at how we can help the - the world reject these - these terrorists. And the answer they came up with was this:
One, more economic development. We should key our foreign aid, our direct foreign investment, and that of our friends, we should coordinate it to make sure that we - we push back and give them more economic development.
Number two, better education.
Number three, gender equality.
Number four, the rule of law. We have to help these nations create civil societies.
 

 
 
Mark Leon Goldberg (UN Dispatch) points out, "Mitt Romney was almost certainly referring to the Arab Human Development Report. This is a groundbreaking study organized by the United Nations Development Program that gives regional scholars a platform to write dispassionate, self critical assessments of the Arab world's progress on a myriad of social development indicators. This includes indices like literacy rates; internet access; maternal mortality rates; primary school enrollment; adolescent fertility rates; higher educational attainment; among others."
 

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

THIS JUST IN! DISAPPOINTMENTS?

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE


CNN REPORTS THERE IS GLOBAL DISAPPOINTMENT OVER LAST NIGHT'S DEBATE BETWEEN MITT ROMNEY AND CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O.

WITHIN THE BULL PEN, WE NOTED PRESS DISAPPOINTMENTS AS WELL.

SAID A LOS ANGELES TIMES JOURNALIST TO THESE REPORTERS, "I WAS REALLY HOPING THEY'D MUD WRESTLE." 

"THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SOMETHING," A CNN ON-AIR AGREED.  "AND BARRY O'S TOP COULD HAVE SLIPPED OFF AND WE COULD HAVE SEEN THOSE FINE MAN BOOBS.  I WISH I HAD MAN BOOBS.  THEY'D HELP ME FEED MY LITTER OF KIDS."

"I WAS HOPING THAT MITT ROMNEY WOULD JUST DROP OUT OF THE RACE, JUST SAY, 'I LOVE YOU BARRY O,' AND LEAVE," ADMITTED  A HOST FOR MSNBC.  "AND MAYBE THAT BARRY O WOULD DO A LITTLE STRIP TEASE."

ON AND ON IT WENT.  SO SEE, IT'S NOT JUST GLOBAL, IT'S INDUSTRY TOO.

 FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Afifa Iskandar passed away Sunday. The singer  was not just an Iraqi institution, she was acclaimed throughout the region.  She was also an actress, knew pretty much everyone, reportedly was the mistress of one prime minister, retired to avoid another prime minister, a very interesting life.   All Iraq News reports she was 91-years-old, born in 1912 to an Iraqi father and a Greek Christian mother. The paper explains she began singing at the age of five and gave her first concert when she she was 8-years-old (gave the concert in Erbil).
 
Alsumaria notes that she married at the age of 12 and that she began singing in Baghdad clubs in 1935. She'd go on to sing at all the leading clubs including Cabaret Abdullah and the Paradise. In 1938, she'd travel to Egypt where she wowed Cario. The History News Network shares a story of a social get together where Afifa Iskander performed:

To compare any singer to Um Kulthoum was the biggest compliment a singer could receive, especially in the fifties (this is before Arab rock had been invented). Afifa Iskander deserved it, not because of her overpowering voice nor her magnetic presence (factors which had made Um Kulthoum a star) but because of the warmth of her personality and the astonishing way she sang Iraqi ballads and made them her own. She was Iraq's Um Kulthoum because she sang Iraqi songs that spoke to Iraqis everywhere in the same way that Um Kulthoum, despite her great Arab following, sang primarily to Egyptians; and she became a national icon precisely because she was able to sing songs that did not imitate the style of Egyptian or Lebanese chanteuses, but were profoundly, natively Iraqi.
 
Al Rafidayn notes that she will be buried in a Baghdad cemetery near her mother. Her mother was a strong influence and played four instruments. Last month, Warvin reports, she was admitted to Baghdad Medical City Hospital, suffering from intestinal bleeding. Afifa was celebrated for her singing and her beauty.  Jabra Ibrahim Jabra shared a recollection in his posthumous Princesses' Street: Baghdad Memories:
 
Some of the writers were not happy at the Brazilian Cafe unless they sat on the front line chairs facing the street, which was always noisy and busy with its ever-changing scenes, people, colors, carriages, cars, and lottery ticket sellers shouting, "Five thousand dinars! Five thousand dinars!"  The din did not ceasue until about midnight, especially because next to the cafe was a famous nightclub, in which Afifa Iskandar sang.
Desmond Stewart introduced me to Afifa Iskandar at her request, for he used to give her private English lessons.  To my surprise, I found her to be young, bright, and thirsty for knowledge and culture.  Desmond and I used to boast that we were the only two men in Baghdad, on going to the nightclub, whom the "artiste" would offer a drink and pay for it, not the contrary. 
 
Another memory is shared in the book Outside In Marginality in the Modern Middle East (Eugene Rogan, editor):
 
[Amin] Al-Mumayyiz's wedding party in 1940 was a different affair.  By then he was a diplomat, and had moved house to al-Salihiya, a leafy suburb.  The musical entertainmnet started with the chalghi accompanied by singing of maqams and pastas by professionals and amateurs.  At midnight, the then renowned singer Afifa Iskandar arrived with her takht (band) headed by Salih al-Kuwaiti.  They came from the Otel al-Jawahiri (which belonged to the Kuwaiti brothers) after the end of their peformance there.  Afifa danced and sang and charmed all present with her smiles and jokes. 
 
 
 
Skies explains that last year, during Ramadan, the series Baghdad Beauty aired -- a series tracing "the life of Affifa Iskandar, one of the first Iraqi singers which started to gain her fame in the 50s of the last century. [. . .] She sang in the same cabaret in which her father, Iskancer, plays the violin. Known personalities attend to the cabaret to listen to her. Among them, Naseem, the British, who reprsent what the UK wants from Iraq, Bakir Sidqi, an Iraqi Army leader, and lately a Nazi German, who offers his country as a new ally to Iraq."
 
In 2010, Hadani Ditmars (CounterCurrents) remembered a trip he took to Iraq and seeking out a Catholic doctor who as very popular in Baghdad, "Young and old, rich and poor, Kurds and Arabs, even Afifa Iskander -- the former star of Baghdad's old cabaret scene and mistress of Abdul Karim Qassim (the Iraqi leader who flirted with Russian Communists and was overthrown in the 1963 CIA-backed Baathist coup) -- came in for a visit. She was in her eighties then and being treated for dysentery, in a neighourhood that, less than a decade earlier, had been middle class."
 
General Abdul Karim Qassim overthrew the (British installed) Iraqi monarchy in a 1958 coup and was Prime Minister of Iraq until 1963. For demanding that the British and American venture Iraq Petroleum Company share ownership and profits with the Iraqi government, Qassim was targeted for overthrow by the CIA during the Kennedy administration. When Saddam Hussein came to power, Afifa Iskandar declared her retirment in order to avoid performing for him. As one of Iraq's legendary and most popular singers, she'd performed before the previous prime ministers and the royal family.
 
 
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia notes that, in the thirties, the "best-known" were "Muhammad Kubbanshi, Salima Murad, Afifa Iskandar, and Sabiha Ibrahim." She would perform in the film Layla in Iraq (1949) directed by Ahmed Kamal Morsy and an Iraqi film classic, the second film from the Stuiod of Baghdad. From 1930 to 1950, Susannah Tarbush (Saudi Gazette) notes, "Saleh Al-Kuwaity was the pre-eminent song writer in Iraq, writing songs for stars such as Zakiya George, Munira Al-Hawazwaz, Afifa Iskander and Zohour Hussein." In June 2008, Akhbaar notes, Afifa Iskandar was one of the artists honored during a cultural salute in Baghdad.
 
 
Among her influences was the Iraqi Jewish singer Salima Murad who was famous for the song "On The Banks of the Tigris." In the documentary about Iraqi music, On The Banks of the Tigris, Afifa Iskandar shared, "Salima Murad was my teacher. She was a real Iraqi!" And many feel that way about Afifa Iskandar. At Alsumaria's Facebook page, already 151 comments have been left at the story on Afifa's passing.
 
 
Earlier this year, Kurd Net noted a concert that was "reviving the Iraqi folklore song festival performed by a group of Iraqi artists in Sweden" and that among the famous and beloved Iraqi songs being performed were ones originally presented by Afifa Iskandar. Rotanata Radio notes that one of the songs she made famous was "It Burned My Soul."
 
 
 
It burned my soul when we parted
I cried and drowned them in my tears
What did my heart say when we parted
It burned my sould when we parted
As I bid farewell I say how can I forget them
My heart, for God's sake, go with them
I would rather die than us be apart
I want those who left me to come back the journey
I want to give them part of my soul as a keepsake
I've experienced every kind of affliction


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