BULLY BOY
PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID
TABLE
KILLER BARRY O CONTINUES HIS ASSAULT ON THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND THE WORLD WITH HIS DRONE WAR TARGETING PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD FOR EXECUTION BASED ON SHODDY EVIDENCE OR THE FACT THAT HE COULDN'T EVACUATE THE TURD FULLY IN THAT MORNING'S BOWEL MOVEMENT.
BACKLASH IS BUILDING TO KILLER BARRY'S ILLEGAL ACTIONS. BUT KILLER BARRY DOESN'T CARE, HE TOLD THESE REPORTERS, "I'VE SHAT ON THE CONSTITUTION FOR NEARLY 5 YEARS NOW. YOU THINK I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT TAKING A LEAK ON THE MAGNA CARTER?"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Ken Hanly (Digital Journal) quotes Omar al-Faruq stating, "I have been here for 45 days waiting for my dream to become a reality. I dream that Maliki will be tried, the same way as Saddam." He was protesting in Ramadi and he is only one of the many protesters taking to the streets of late. Iraqi Spring shares photos of the Ramadi protest.
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Khalisi School in Ramadi المدرسة الخالصية في الانبار http://flic.kr/p/dTcXUi
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Khalisi School in Ramadi المدرسة الخالصية في الانبار http://flic.kr/p/dTiA9L
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Khalisi School in Ramadi المدرسة الخالصية في الانبار http://flic.kr/p/dTiA8d
IraqiSpring
Alsumaria notes that Anbar Province demonstrators have condemned the bombing and are calling for the government to implement their demands or resign. Al-Shorfa adds that the spokesperson for the Mosul protesters, Ghanem al-Abd, also condemned the attacks. World Bulletin explains, "Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, is facing mass protests by disenchanted Sunni Muslims and is at loggerheads with ethnic Kurds who run their northern region autonomously from Baghdad." For the seventh week, protests continue in Iraq with today being dubbed "NO to the Tyrannical Ruler." Morning Star quotes Samarra's Sheik Mohammed Jumaa declaring, "Stop tyranny and oppression. We want our rights. You will witness what other tyrants have witnessed before you." Kitabat reports protests today in Anbar, Mosul, Salahuddin, Kirkuk, Diyala and Baghdad and that protesters are calling Nouri the Pharaoh of Iraq (it's not a compliment) and noting that his State of Law didn't win the 2010 parliamentary elections but he used the Erbil Agreement to grab the post of prime minister then disregarded the partnership agreement. Najaf demonstrators called this morning for Article IV of the Constitution to be gutted ('terrorists' arrests -- if you can't find your suspect, arrest a relative). Alsumaria notes "hundreds" demonstrating in Kirkuk and demanding that Nouri's government resign if they are unable to meet the demands of the protesters. Sinan Salaheddin (AP) notes protesters in Falluja and Ramadi again "blocked the main highway to Jordan." On the Ramadi protests, Omar al-Shaher (Al-Monitor) reports:
Amid the clamor caused by the ongoing protests in Anbar province in western Iraq, which are nearing their 50th day, demonstrators have pitched huge tents and blocked traffic on the highway linking Iraq to Jordan and Syria. The protest organizers said that the main square was attracting a million people each Friday, including many participants from thousands of miles away, who require food and a place to sleep. On one such Friday, 200 sheep were slaughtered to provide demonstrators with food. On another Friday, the city of Hit, located 50 miles west of Ramadi, served demonstrators 2,000 dishes of meat and rice for lunch. The demonstration’s organizers said that Friday lunch meals can cost upwards of $60,000.
Qusay Zain, a spokesman for the protest, said that tribal leaders in Ramadi compete to serve lunch to protesters, despite the exorbitant costs. "This time, many tribal leaders in Anbar have taken honorable stances,” he said.
Liz Sly (Washington Post) observes, "With their huge turnouts, these largely peaceful demonstrations have the potential to present a far bigger challenge to Maliki’s hold on power than the violent and still stubbornly persistent insurgency, which continues to claim scores of lives every month without any discernible impact on the political process." Neoconservatives Kimberly and Frederick W. Kagan have written an opinion piece on the protests for the Washington Post:
Eighteen days of protests in Egypt in 2011 electrified the world. But more than twice that many days of protest in Iraq have gone almost unnoticed in the United States. Iraqi army troops killed five Sunni protesters in Fallujah on Jan. 25, after a month of anti-government protests in Anbar, Nineveh and Salahuddin provinces and elsewhere for which thousands turned out. Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Iranian-backed Shiite militias are re-mobilizing. Iraq teeters on the brink of renewed insurgency and, potentially, civil war.
This crisis matters for America. U.S. vital interests that have been undermined over the past year include preventing Iraq from becoming a haven for al-Qaeda and destabilizing the region by becoming a security vacuum or a dictatorship that inflames sectarian civil war; containing Iranian influence in the region; and ensuring the free flow of oil to the global market.
While tensions have risen over the past two years, the triggers for recent eruptions are clear. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, had the bodyguards of Finance Minister Rafie al-Issawi, who is Sunni, arrested for alleged terrorist activities on Dec. 20 — almost exactly one year after he ordered the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi’ssecurity detail. Hashimi fled to Turkey and is unlikely to return soon to Iraq, where he was sentenced to death after Maliki demanded his trial in absentia for murder and financing terrorism.
The threat to Issawi, a moderate technocrat from Anbar, galvanized Iraqi Sunnis, who rightly saw Maliki’s move as sectarian and an assault on government participation by Sunnis not under the prime minister’s thumb. Three days after the arrests, demonstrations broke out in Ramadi, Fallujah and Samarra. Three days after that, a large protest closed the highwayfrom Baghdad to Syria and Jordan. The popular resistance spread to Mosul on Dec. 27.
Meanwhile Iraqi President Jalal Talabani remains out of the country. Late on December 17th (see the December 18th snapshot), Jalal Talabani had a stroke and was admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20th, he was moved to Germany. He remains in Germany currently. [Saad Abedine (CNN) reported talk that it was a stroke the day the news broke (December 18th) and January 9th, the Office of President Talabani confirmed it had been a stroke.] The January 30th snapshot noted that Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani visited Talabani in the Germany -- Barzani was enroute to Davos -- with Barzani stating that Jalal's health was improving. Talabani's website explains the the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Iraq, Martin Kobler, conveyed congratulations on Tuesday, noting Jalal's progress and that his health had stabilized.
Turning to the United States, yesterday saw John Brennnen appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee in his pursuit of the post to be Director of the CIA. It was covered in "Iraq snapshot," "Thoughts on today's Senate Intell hearing (C.I.)," Ava's "The disgraceful Dianne Feinstein (Ava)," Wally's "Brennan likes torture (Wally)" AND Kat's "Brennan tries to weasel." On that hearing, Jon Schwarz Tweets:
Jon Schwarz
As you listen to the Brennan hearing, remember 6 years ago Jay Rockefeller explained senators have no power vs the CIA: http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/001436.html …
In addition, Ruth reported on a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in "If Leon Panetta told the truth . . .."
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
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