Friday, September 20, 2013

THIS JUST IN! KERRY GOES BALLISTIC ON OBAMA!

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


AS CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O CONTINUES TO DELAY ON BOMBING HIMSELF (SEE "Barry O delays bombing self, cites public opinion" AND "THIS JUST IN! BARRY O DELAYS BOMBING OF SELF!"), U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY MAKES CLEAR THAT HE HAS HAD ENOUGH OF BARRY O'S DILLY-DALLY-ING.


REFERRING TO A SEPTEMBER 13TH INCIDENT INVOLVING BARRY O AND THE AMIR OF KUWAIT (HIS HIGHNESS SHAYKH SABAH AL-AHMAD AL-JABER AL SABAH) IN WHICH GAS WAS PASSED, KERRY DECLARED TODAY, "SO THERE YOU HAVE IT.  GAS WAS PASSED.  GAS WAS USED."

THE SEPTEMBER 13TH INCIDENT ATTRACTED MINIMAL ATTENTION IN REAL TIME BECAUSE IT WAS SAID THEN THAT FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA HAD ACTUALLY BEEN THE ONE WHO FARTED. NOT WANTING TO EMBARRASS HER, THE PRESS HAD LOOKED THE OTHER WAY UNTIL THE AMIR OF KUWAIT BEGAN SPEAKING.

"IT SMELLED LIKE BOILED EGGS, I TELL YOU," SAID THE AMIR.  "I WAS GASPING FOR AIR AND I NOTED IN HORROR THAT OBAMA WAS LAUGHING.  I ALSO NOTED THAT HIS WIFE WAS ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE ROOM.  SO IT STRUCK ME AS UNLIKELY THAT SHE HAD FARTED EVEN THOUGH OBAMA KEPT INSISTING IT WAS HER.  WHEN I PRESSED HIM ON IT, HE TRIED TO BLAME BO BUT NO WHITE HOUSE DOG WAS AROUND."

ONCE THE AMIR WENT PUBLIC WITH HIS ACCUSATION, SECRETARY KERRY AND U.S. SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN BEGAN DEMANDING ACTION -- THAT BARRY O CONDUCT AN ATTACK ON HIMSELF.

SPEAKING AT THE UNITED NATIONS TODAY, KERRY TRIED TO CONVEY THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION, "IMAGINE BEING DOWNWIND OF THAT.  AND WHAT IF IT IS IN WINTER, WHICH IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER?  IT MIGHT BE SO COLD THAT OPENING A WINDOW IS NOT FEASABLE.  THE U.S. MUST ACT.  I HAVE SEEN BARRY O EAT BEANS WITH EVERY MEAL!"




FROM THE TCI WIRE:




All of these words whispered in my ear
Tell a story that I cannot bear to hear
Just cause I said it, it don't mean that I meant it
People say crazy things
Just cause I said it, don't mean that I meant it
Just cause you heard it
Rumor has it 
-- "Rumor Has It," written by Adele and Ryan Tedder, first appears on Adele's 21


Rumor has it on Arabic Facebook sites (and other social media) today that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has passed away.   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. All Iraq News reports his political party, the Kurdistan Patriotic Union, has issued a denial: "The reports that were posted via some Facebook pages regarding the death of Talabani are totally groundless."

Iraq has three security ministries.  One person should head each one.  But Nouri never nominated people to head the ministries.  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."

The Iraqi Constitution explains how someone becomes prime minister.  First, the Iraqi president names a prime minister-designate.  That person then has 30 days to put together a cabinet.  Putting together a cabinet includes nominating the people, getting Parliament to agree on the people (vote their consent).  The only way someone moves from prime minister-designate to prime minister is via the Cabinet.  This does not mean a partial Cabinet.  The reason for this clause is that this is supposed to demonstrate that the person can work with the Parliament, provide leadership and, where needed, make the needed compromise.  An Iraqi who was part of drafting the 2005 Constitution e-mailed that "the entire purpose [of this process] was to prevent a Maliki type from becoming prime minister.  His failures in his second term can be traced to his failure [as prime minister designate] to work with the parliament."

How did Nouri move from prime minister-designate to prime minister when he failed the only task for the position?  Failure to name a Cabinet (in full) in 30 days means the Iraqi president is supposed to name another person to be prime minister-designate.

Nouri was able to ignore the Constitution in 2010 because his being named prime minister-designate ignored the Constitution as well.  The prime minister-designate is supposed to come from the political party or political slate that won the most votes.  Nouri's State of Law came in second to Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya.  Allawi should have been named prime minister-designate.

Nouri at first screamed for a recount.  When that didn't change the outcome signficantly, he dug in his heels and refused to relinquish his position.  For eight months, he refused to step down. Having the backing of the United States allowed him to do that.  They should have eased him out.

They actually should have listened to Gen Ray Odierno who was the top US commander in Iraq at the time.  Before the March 2010 elections, Odierno was saying Nouri might not come in first (a prospect the press refused to entertain) and Odierno was saying that Nouri might refuse to step down.  But the idiot Chris Hill, apparently half-baked on who knows what, insisted that wasn't going to happen and went around Odierno to the White House which chose to believe Hill and not Odierno.  History has demonstrated the lousy US Ambassador to Iraq to be an idiot and Odierno to be someone with keen observational skills.

The White House didn't just cover for Nouri to keep him in power for eight months after the elections, they also pushed and prodded the leaders of the various political blocs to sign off on a contract known as The Erbil Agreement.  This contract circumvented the Iraqi Constitution to give Nouri a second term (illegally give him a second term).  Since The Erbil Agreement gave him a second term, Nouri was not required to meet the 30-day rule for naming a Cabinet.

And the effects of that illegal maneuver by the US government can be immediately seen in the increased violence today.


"We are new to democracy, as a country, we are new to that."  We'll come back to that quote.  Right now, let's look at some of today's violence.




National Iraqi News Agency reports 1 Mosul shop owner was shot dead in his store, a roadside bombing near Tikrit claimed 1 life and left another person injured. and an Iraqi army officer was shot dead outside RashadEFE reports, "Nine people were killed and 30 others injured Thursday in a bombing at a market west of Baghdad, Iraqi police told Efe.  The attack took place in Abu Ghraib, home of the notorious prison." Fu Peng (Xinhua) focuses on another bombing, "Also, at least two civilians were killed and 30 wounded when a truck bomb detonated near a house of a police officer in Imam Ahmed district in the city of Tuz-Khurmato, some 180 km north of Baghdad, a local police source anonymously told Xinhua.  The huge blast left some 15 nearby houses and several private cars damaged, the source said."   All Iraq News notes that the corpses of 10 young adults (ages "17 to 25") were discovered in Baghdad (all were shot dead).  EFE adds the ten were all men.  AFP provides this context, "Summary executions were commonplace at the height of the Sunni-Shiite conflict when many thousands of people were killed in cold blood. But this was the first time in several years that such a large number of bodies had been found in one place."  Found?  Reuters reports "unusual vehicle traffic" to and from an abandoned building caught the attention of children who entered them empty building and found the corpses "inside one of its rooms" according to a police source.  Fang Yang (Xinhua) also notes a police source for the information that the corpses "were blindfolded and handcuffed with bullet holes in the heads." That's 24 reported dead and 61 reported injured.


But that wasn't all the violence.  NINA reports:



Police source told NINA that gunmen opened fire, using guns with silencers, at a shop owner in Ishaqi district, south of Tikrit, killing him instantly, for cooperating with security forces.
He added that 3 improvised explosive devices went off near the body of the deceased, when people and security forces gathered, killing 5 persons and wounding 18 others.


Killed for cooperating with security forces?  And on the same day the Ministry of the Interior was attempting to spin cooperation.   Today Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Assadi told Al-Shorfa that Iraq's tips line was a huge success.  He insisted that there "terrorism-related notifications has increased by 40% in comparison to the figure from August."  Wow.  Nearly double.  Can al-Assadi do math?  Some people -- and at one point a talking Barbie doll -- found math to be hard.  I certainly don't consider myself to be a math expert.  But if I'm reading an article about how helpful these phone call-ins are and how their number has basically doubled and then you tell me that these tips have helped you "arrest 28 suspects," even I can see something wrong with that picture.  And that's before you factor in that 28 suspects arrested is not even a large daily number -- mass arrests account for twice that on a slow day in Iraq of late.  And let's not forget that Nouri used yesterday's weekly address to sell the Iraqi equivalent of NYC's "If you see something, say something."   If you've had a 40% increase, you use your weekly address to thank people for that, not to beg them to call your hotline.


"We are new to democracy, as a country, we are new to that."  That was Iraq's Ambassador to the US Lukman Faily speaking at the Brookings Institution yesterday.  He was actually replying to a question from Brooking's Kenneth Pollack and speaking of the fact that Iraqi prisons contain people falsely arrested.  That's a large number of the Iraqi prison population, though Faily tried to play down the number and also tried to excuse false arrest and imprisonment with "new to democracy."  Is Iraq also supposed to be new to literacy?  One of the world's all time classic books is Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo whose main character Edmond Dantes sets off on a course of revenge after he's falsely arrested and imprisoned.  The novel was the inspiration for ABC's Revenge, as Stan noted last nightRevenge returns with new episodes Sunday, September 29th and, as she's done with the first two seasons, Rebecca will be blogging about each new episode at her site.  In the TV show, as in the book, false imprisonment destroy lives and makes a person (the falsely imprisoned in the book, the adult-daughter of the falsely imprisoned in the TV series) lash out against those responsible.

And in that classic story, you find what continues to fuel the violence in Iraq.  Nouri's answer has repeatedly been mass arrests which have imprisoned many innocents.  This only further destabilizes the country.  And, as this takes place, the idiot Nouri doesn't even have, all these years later, ministers to head the security ministries.


Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count puts the number of violent deaths in the country so far this month at 651.  And UNAMI issued the following yesterday:


Baghdad, 18 September 2013 - The Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (DSRSG) for Iraq, Mr. Gyorgy Busztin, expressed extreme concern about sectarian based displacement after recent worrying reports about forcible expulsion of Al Saadoun tribal communities from Dhi-Qar and Shabak communities from Ninewa, along with killings of members of Sunni community in Basra. كوردی
"The use of violence and intimidation against communities by illegal armed groups forcing them to flee their homes is unacceptable and a clear violation of basic human rights," DSRSG Busztin said, stressing that this worrying trend may pose grave risks for Iraq's social cohesion and may be disruptive to the ongoing efforts for national reconciliation.



The UN Envoy called on the Iraqi authorities to protect communities from attack, ensuring their safety, security, and right to a peaceful life free of intimidation.




The Kurdish Globe reminds the UN's death toll for last month was 800 Iraqis killed and that 5,000 have been killed so far this year.  And yet what  Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported back in July 2012 is still true today, "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." 


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"Barry O delays bombing self, cites public opinion"
"THIS JUST IN! BARRY O DELAYS BOMBING OF SELF!"

Thursday, September 19, 2013

THIS JUST IN! BARRY O DELAYS BOMBING OF SELF!

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


DESPITE ANNOUNCING YESTERDAY THAT HE WOULD BOMB THE WHITE HOUSE (SEE
"Barack tentatively agrees to bomb White House" AND "THIS JUST IN! BARACK AGREES TO BOMB SELF!"), THE DAHLIBAMA OF WAR HAS FAILED TO TAKE ACTION.

REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, BARRY O EXPLAINED HE WAS PARTLY PARALYZED DUE TO PUBLIC OPINION. 

"SIX IN TEN AMERICANS DON'T WANT ME TO BOMB THE WHITE HOUSE," HE STATED.

CONSIDERING THE WAY HE WAS TANKING IN RECENT POLLS, THAT WAS SURPRISING.

BUT BARRY O EXPLAINED, "OH, NO, IT'S NOT ME THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE WORRIED ABOUT, IT'S THE WHITE HOUSE.  NOT SINCE THE WAR OF 1812 HAS IT BEEN DEMOLISHED. JAY CARNEY TAUGHT ME THAT.  SO I'M LOOKING FOR AN ARBY'S OR CHIC-FIL-A TO MAKE THE SECOND WHITE HOUSE. I'LL MOVE IN THERE AND BOMB IT.  PROBABLY."


FROM THE TCI WIRE:



Lukman Faily is the Iraqi Ambassador to the United States.  Today he used Twitter to take questions and provide answers.  Some were fairly basic questions about Faily himself, having to do with his experiences and his plans.  Sara Miller asked one of those.




  1. How many countries have you lived in? Do you have a favorite?



  1. . I've lived in 5 countries. Iraq is home; Japan is close to my heart and I hope US is closer

Cecily Hilleary wondered if he might take part in competitions while in the United States, specifically in marathons.



  1. A light question: Will you be running in any US marathons while you're here? Registration for 2014 Boston is open!




  1. . yes, certainly will join. I was told the Boston will open in October. I'm staying away from MarineCorp marathon!


Other questions were more to do with the relationship of the US and Iraq such as the following two exchanges.





Why is Iraq still requesting help and aid of the US?

Retweeted by
Expand


  1. . Iraq is not asking for foreign aid but for political, security cooperation as a strategic partner to the US




  1. Mr Lukman, any news about future weapon deals with the US, including possibly Apaches or UAVs etc?



  1. . we're in process of purchasing $10b in US military equip. We're natural allies; military cooperation part of that


It's a shame Faily wasn't asked to define exactly what sort of security cooperation in Iraq that Nouri's government is seeking from the US government.  In the weapons exchange, one of the first signs that the Twitter hang was not all lollypops took place as Shirin Nariman Tweeted a question.





  1. is this purchases aims to be used to supress more and also killing Iranian dissidents


She received no answer to her question.  This would become a pattern throughout the Twitter exchange especially with regards to the topic of Camp Ashraf.

However, claims that the ambassador "ducked" questions about Camp Ashraf are untrue.  He responded to two questions on the Ashraf community.




  1. What is the current state of the investigation into the massacre ?




. we await Prime Minister's special committee results to be released once full investigation completed

View conversation



  1. . we are awaiting the PM's special investigative committee on the event
  2. . we condemn murder of Ashraf residents. In constant negotiation w/special envoy for resettlement outside of Iraq


Let's define the Camp Ashraf community for those who may not be familiar with it.  As of this month, Camp Ashraf 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.

The idea that Nouri can investigate the attack is ludicrous.  Not only have we mocked the idea, the United Nations has insisted that an independent investigation is needed.

Ambassador Faily Lukman did briefly address the Ashraf community.  If you've read the entire Twitter conversation, you know he spent more time on that issue than any other.

But he also ignored questions on Camp Ashraf (as he did when the woman asked about whether US-acquired weapons would be used to suppress the Iraqi people -- a serious question which should have been answered).  We've used Lukman Fairly's Twitter feed for the above exchanges and not the Twitter feed for the conversation itself.  You have to page down and page down and page down repeatedly through one message after another about the Ashraf community.




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"THIS JUST IN! BARACK AGREES TO BOMB SELF!"

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

THIS JUST IN! BARACK AGREES TO BOMB SELF!

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


AS BARACK CONTINUES TO ARM AL QAEDA, THESE REPORTERS HAVE LEARNED CONGRESS IS PREPARING TO ACT ON THE AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE AGAINST TERRORISTS WHICH WAS PASSED IN 2001.

USING THE ACT, THEY WILL CALL FOR MILITARY FORCE TO BE USED TO TARGET THE WHITE HOUSE.  SENATORS CARL LEVIN AND JOHN MCCAIN ARE IN AGREEMENT ON ORDERING THE DAHLIBAMA TO ATTACK HIMSELF.

WHAT OF BARRY O'S WIFE AND CHILDREN?  MICHELLE WILL JOURNEY TO QATAR -- AS SAJIDA TALFAH DID BEFORE HER WHILE THE TWO DAUGHTERS WILL RESETTLE IN JORDAN.

REACHED FOR COMMENT TONIGHT, BARRY O TOLD THESE REPORTERS, "I'M UP TO IT.  I'M ITCHING TO BOMB SOMEBODY.  IF I CAN'T BOMB SYRIA WELL I GUESS BOMBING MYSELF WILL HAVE TO DO.  IT'S LIKE MASTURBATION, AS LONG AS YOU GET TO FINISH YOU DON'T COMPLAIN."


FROM THE TCI WIRE:



This evening Brandon J. (Firedoglake) observed, "Why do I feel Iraq (and Afghanistan) is now a footnote for our media and politicians? The increase of violence in Iraq has 'threatened to renew civil war in Iraq'.Peter Z. Scheer (TruthDig) points out, "With the Syrian civil war drawing the world’s attention, the persistent suffering in neighboring Iraq has gotten less ink."


NINA reports an attack in Falluja left a police officer dead and a bystander injured, 2 Sadr City car bombings left 6 people dead and fifteen injured, a northeastern Baghdad (Husseiniya) left 3 dead and twelve injured2 car bombings in central Baghdad (Batawiyeen) left 3 people dead and eleven injured, a southwestern Baghdad (Amil) car bombing left 2 people dead and eight more injured, a southeastern Baghdad (Zafaraniya) car bombing claimed 1 life and left seven more people injured, another southwestern Baghdad bombing (Saydiya) bombing resulted in 1 death and ten people injured,  and rebels shot dead 7 soldiers in Ain Jahash village while injuring an eighth.  On the seven soldiers, Trend News Agency adds, "Unidentified gunmen executed seven off-duty soldiers at a fake checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul, officials said." Press TV reports, "In the western city of Fallujah, another eight people were killed after three bombs went off at a police station. Moreover, gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle, killing six officers near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) informs, "In northern Mosul, about 400 kilometers (249 miles) north of Baghdad, a bomb exploded in the convoy of army Gen. Mohammed Khamas, killing him instantly. Khamas was the deputy head of army intelligence department in Mosul."
That's at least 25 dead and over seventy injured.\


Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) speaks with Sunni Endowment head Abdul-Karim al-Khazrachi who reveals the last two weeks have seen the deaths of 17 Sunnis in Basra, "that the killings were preceded by threats, including letters that came with bullets in the envelopes, vowing revenge for insurgent attacks against Shiites across Iraq. The letters demanded that Sunnis leave the province. He said he didn't know the killers' identities."  Xinhua counts the numbers, " At least 49 people were killed and 148 others wounded in separate violent attacks across Iraq on Tuesday."


Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 592 violent deaths this month.  Al Jazeera explains, "The attacks on Tuesday were the latest in a surge of unrest that has left more than 4,200 people dead this year."   Each month has become a string of bloody days.  Monday, Gwen Ifill (PBS' NewsHour) noted Sunday's dead and wounded, "In Iraq, Shiites in several cities spent the day assessing the damage, after a bloody Sunday of bombings and shootings. More than 150 people were being treated in hospitals across the country; 58 were killed in the attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere. They were the latest victims in a wave of violence that has claimed more than 4,000 lives since April."


Cathy Otten (USA Today) offers an overview of the ongoing violence which includes:

"There has been little progress on the political front in Iraq, and al-Qaeda is banking on dissatisfaction with the government to increase their flexibility in large swaths of land in western Iraq, neighboring Syria," said Hayder Al-Khoei, associated fellow at the MENA program at the London-based think tank Chatham House.
With such violence and deadly blasts occurring every week and showing no signs of stopping, Iraqis say they are used to living with fear.
"The proper word for what people are is hopeless," said Haithman Abid, a counselor at a hospital in Sadr City, a Shia-dominated area on the outskirts of Baghdad. "When there's an explosion in Sadr City, or elsewhere, people say you get used to it but actually this is one type of hopelessness."


France 24 also tries to make some sense of the continued and increasing violence.  Among those consulted are Baghdad security expert Amir Jabbar al-Saidi and Iraqi journalisr Ali al-Moussawi.


Amir Jabbar al-Saidi:  In the last couple months, most explosions were either triggered remotely by a cell phone or by suicide bombers. A new, particularly cruel tactic has recently emerged. In a busy parking lot, someone parks their car in a way that blocks other cars from passing, and leaves a phone number on the windshield. When another driver calls that number, this phone call triggers the bomb.


 Ali al-Moussawi:  I’ve noticed over the last several months that the security forces have improved their response time to deal with the increased number of bomb attacks. They reach the explosion site very quickly, because there is no longer any place in Baghdad that is more than 500 metres away from a checkpoint. They quickly establish a security perimeter over an extended area, because they know that another attack is likely to occur nearby. It prevents me from filming, but this method saves many lives.  That said, prevention is lacking. The authorities have been unable to avoid these attacks, in spite of security forces’ heavy presence throughout the city. Furthermore, what is really shocking is that they continue to use so-called “bomb detectors” at checkpoints, even though we now know that they are totally useless. In fact, the man who designed these detectors was recently sentenced to prison.



The violence continues because of Nouri al-Maliki -- because of the various crises he creates and also because of the way he has 'addressed' violence since 2006:  with more violence.  Noting the Iraqi government's high execution rate, Samir Goswami (Guardian) gets at the heart of why the violence continues:

With reports showing that more than 1,000 people were killed in sectarian and terrorist attacks in July alone, it is easy to understand why Iraqi authorities might seek desperate measures. But violence thrives where justice, due process, and human rights are denied. Continuing that cycle of violence by executing people only serves to further erode confidence in the government's ability to protect its citizens, especially when its own institutions do not live up to their own standards.
Simply put, adherence to the rule of law grounded in human rights principles can help prevent violence. This is especially true for fragile governments that are trying to instil confidence in their core governance responsibilities.
The Iraqi government's struggle with this dilemma is exemplified in its deeply flawed criminal justice system: death sentences are commonplace and human rights abuses and extreme punishments of all kinds are the prevailing norm. In May of last year, the United Nations assistance mission for Iraq expressed "serious reservations about the integrity of the criminal justice system in Iraq, including abuses of due process, convictions based on forced confessions, a weak judiciary, corruption, and trial proceedings that fall short of international standards".


Let's leave violence for a moment to note AFP's Prashant Rao's visit to the Baghdad Zoo:




  1. Spent the morning at Baghdad Zoo with the new white tiger cub - pictures:




Two tiger cubs play/wrestle at Baghdad Zoo

Expand 

Meanwhile  Alaric Gomes (Al Bawabia) reports on Iraq's national tennis team which has to endure "curfews, shoot-on-sight orders, bombings and constant checkpoints" in order to train:


The Iraq national tennis squad have been forced to accept this scenario as part of their lives, but have still managed to compete in Dubai at the ongoing Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV matches being played at the Aviation Club this week.

The Iraq Tennis Association (ITA) has not asked the government to try and sort the situation out, instead the organisation has gone about its job despite the surrounding chaos.

“To start with, the national team and the coaching staff is all based in Baghdad. Some of the players walk it out to the tennis courts for practice, some come on bicycles, while some of us [the coaching staff] use our cars to get there,” coach Auday Ahmad told Gulf News on the sidelines of the Davis Cup competition.

 “And since cars are only allowed to be on the roads of Baghdad depending on whether they have odd or even number plates, a few of us have managed to have one car each with an odd and even number plate so that we can just go and attend practice.”

 That's animals and sports.  Let's turn to art because good art reflects the world we live in.  Mushreq Abbas (Al-Monitor) reports:

“The singer was standing next to a cemetery, addressing a sad widow who had just buried her husband. He owes her deceased husband money, he says, so he will kiss her, as a settlement!” This is the subject of an Iraqi song that is widely popular among youth. The song has been harshly criticized by intellectuals and the Iraqi people for satirizing death and its inappropriate lyrics.

This song is no exception. For years, this style of song in Iraq has become more aggressive in terms of its lyrics, melody, the use of drums and even the sounds of bombs and airplanes. In many cases, this style has made use of the vocabulary and suffering of everyday life in Iraq.
In Iraqi songs, it is no longer strange to hear a lover flirting by saying, “You are like an air raid,” “Waiting for you is like waiting at a military checkpoint,” “Your eyes look like a cannon shell,” and “I wish I was an explosive device in front of your house.” In an environment surrounded by troops and weapons — where the smell of gunpowder constantly hangs in the air because of the frequency of bombings — the excessive use of these terms is enough to change flirting styles and even public discourse.

For those who think, "Animals at a zoo, don't you call out fluff?"  I call out (or just ignore) Kelly McEvers doing some dumb ass report on cooking in Iraq.  There's a difference.  McEvers and NPR offered no reports from inside Iraq for months.  They finally do one and it's a cooking segment?  That's fluff.  Prashant Rao covers the killings daily.  I don't consider his going to the zoo or enjoying his trip to the zoo to be shirking his responsibilities.  That's the difference.  Also true, it allowed us to ease into the music story which is both revealing and important.




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