THIS JUST IN! FAUX BRAVERY!

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

THOUSANDS OF DUMB ASSES AND COWARDS MARCHED IN D.C. TODAY.  THEY WENT TO THE CAPITOL, THAT WAS THEIR GOAL, WITH SIGNS SAYING THINGS LIKE "STOP SPYING ON US."

SORRY CHICKEN DUMB S**TS, CONGRESS ISN'T THE ONE SPYING ON YOU.  THAT'S AN EXECUTIVE BRANCH PROGRAM.  YOU SHOULD HAVE MARCHED ON THE WHITE HOUSE -- BUT YOU'RE STUPID AND GUTLESS.

IN FACT, YOU'VE ACHIEVED THE TRIFECTA: COWARDLY, IGNORANT AND USELESS.

MEANWHILE THE OHIO STATE MARCHING BAND DID THE MOONWALK TO PAY HOMAGE TO MICHAEL JACKSON.  NO WORD YET ON WHETHER THEY THEN MOLESTED CHILDREN TO REALLY GET INTO THE ONE-GLOVED ACT!


FROM THE TCI WIRE:




Protests took place in Iraq today -- they've been taking place non-stop since December 21st.  Yesterday, Rachel Shabi (Guardian) noted the protests:


All of this worsened in December last year, when forces arrested the bodyguards of the Sunni former finance minister, Rafi al-Issawi, under terrorism laws, prompting mass protests that were brutally dispersed. The violence included an army raid on protesters in Hawija, northern Iraq, in April, killing 50 and injuring many more.


If you'd like to read Shabi's column in Arabic, Al Mada's translated it here.  Dr. Mohammad Akef Jamal (Gulf News) noted Iraq's civil rights movement this week as well and he noted, "The people’s anger expressed through their demonstrations has to be translated into a decisive resolution in the upcoming elections for new faces that no one doubts their devotion towards Iraq and its well-being."

Iraqi Spring MC notes protests took place in Baquba, Samarra, Falluja, Mosul, Rawa, and Ramadi.  National Iraqi News Agency reports thousands turned out in Falluja and Ramadi for the Anbar sit-ins and quote Shiekh Mohammed Fayyad declaring, "The citizens participated in the prayers that held in the courtyard northern Ramadi and eastern Fallujah cities , stressing that the goal of this trickle is to send one again a message to the governing in Baghdad that our demonstrations are peaceful and backed by citizens deep conviction."  Al Mada reports organizers distributed forms in Ramadi and Falluja for families of the detained to fill out in the hopes that they can locate their loved one and determine the status.  Many are held without charges.  Many have been thrown in detention centers, jails and prisons for no reason -- they are accused of no crimes but are related to a suspect the police could not find so family members were knowing rounded up even though they were not suspects.  In Samaeea Sheikh Ziad Madhi noted that the protests are not about political parties but our about justice -- first and foremost, a call to release the innocent detainees.  In Baquba Shebab al-Badri echoed the emphasis on detainees and stated they would continue to demand the release of the detainees and continue to call for an end to the raids (mass arrests) that continue to target Sunni communities.  Kitabat reports on Sheikh Ziad Mahdi in Samarra who noted the detainees remain imprisoned and remain a priority of protesters.  The Sheikh noted the demands for the release of the innocent detainees continue because they have not been released so the sit-ins continue. He noted that Nouri al-Maliki is responsible for the continued deterioration of security in Iraq.  Iraqi Spring MC notes there were calls for the United Nations and others to witness what it really taking place in Iraq, calls for an end to Iranian interference in Iraq, Falluja speakers called for an end to injustice and the flowing of blood in the streets, and Nouri al-Maliki was denounced for using militias to stay in power.  Kitabat also reports on Sheikh Humam Kubaisi in Ramadi and how he noted ten months have passed and still the demands are not met.


The protests have been marked by violence.

Not on the part of protesters, the violent ones have been the so-called security forces.


For example,   January 7th, Nouri's forces assaulted four protesters in Mosul,  January 24th,  Nouri's forces sent two protesters (and one reporter) to the hospital,  and March 8th, Nouri's force fired on protesters in Mosul killing three.


All of that and more appeared to be a trial run for what was coming, the April 23rd massacre of a peaceful sit-in in Hawija which resulted from  Nouri's federal forces storming in.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.   AFP reported the death toll rose to 53 dead.  UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).


Iraq was a brief issue in today's State Dept press briefing by spokesperson Jen Psaki:.  As usual, Al Quds' Said Arikat brought Iraq up.




QUESTION: Can we go to Iraq?


MS. PSAKI: Are we – okay. Go ahead. Iraq.


QUESTION: One of the issues eclipsed by this discussion. Anyway, could you confirm or deny that Iraq has agreed to renegotiate strategic arrangements that they had with you in view of the uptick of the violence that is taking place right now, such as perhaps supplying them with drones, or in fact the U.S. using drones to go after terrorist camps?


MS. PSAKI: Well, I’m not aware of that and I have not heard of that, to be honest.


QUESTION: Okay.


MS. PSAKI: We do have an ongoing dialogue with the Government of Iraq to help improve its capacity, and to address and degrade ISIL’s ability. That’s true. Those conversations are of course ongoing. We consider them an essential partner in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq and that’s why we’re focused on it. But in terms of renegotiation of anything, I’m not aware of that as being planned.


QUESTION: The reason I am asking that is this is, of course – Prime Minister Maliki is coming to town next week.


MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm.


QUESTION: And Iraqis are saying or claiming that you have assured them to speed up the process, delivery of F-16 fighter jets and also to – they are looking at – they are sort of – they’re looking positively at the idea of the U.S. perhaps using drones in their fight against terrorism. That’s why I’m asking.
So has there been anything in that realm, and that, in fact, Secretary of State Kerry is involved in this process?


MS. PSAKI: Again, I know we’re working with the White House and preparing for this trip, but I’m not aware of the specifics on the plans at this point along those lines. But we work with Iraq closely; this is another opportunity to do that, as they visit.




Good for Said Arikat for bringing up Iraq.  Sad that over and over, in a room full of reporters -- most of them working for US outlets -- Said Arikat is the only one able to ask about Iraq.

He brought up too major issues.  Let's start with drones.  This morning,  Peg Mackey (Reuters) reports Nouri plans to insist upon the US government supplying him with drones.

The US is going to arm Nouri with drones?  Is there a more stupid idea on running around DC right now?  As already noted, he's attacked peaceful protesters.  The fifty-plus that died in Hawija were only able to be killed because the US had supplied him with military helicopters.


Hawija is in Kirkuk Province.  Nouri wanted to attack the protester but needed to get more forces in during the five-day siege of Hawija.  The problem for him was that Kirkuk forces would not let Nouri's SWAT forces enter. Kikruk Governor Najm al-Din Karim discussed this with Shalaw Mohammed (Niqash):

NIQASH: The incidents in Hawija, where protestors were killed by the Iraqi military, also seems to have seen more Iraqi army forces enter Kirkuk.

Al-Din Karim: Actually those forces did not come through Kirkuk - they entered Hawija by helicopter. They tried to come through Kirkuk but we prevented them from doing so. I know the Prime Minister disapproved of this – he told me so last time we met.

53 dead, 8 of them children.  And this is just with helicopters.  What's he going to do the Iraqi people if he has drones?

On his August visit to the US, Iraq's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari made clear the government wanted drones.  Indira A.R. Lakshmanan (Bloomberg News) reported, "The top Iraqi diplomat’s comments are the first time he has publicly raised the possibility of working with the U.S. on anti-terrorist drone strikes, a clandestine program whose use against terror groups in Pakistan has fueled widespread protest and damaged the U.S. alliance there."  At the start of this month,  John Hudson (Foreign Policy) reported that Iraq will not get the US drones that the Iraqi government has been calling for:


In 2013 alone, Iraq is averaging 68 car bombings a month. The United Nations reports that 5,740 civilians were killed since January, which is almost two times more deaths than recorded in all of 2010.
Despite the staggering numbers, the U.S. isn't about to open up a new drone war in Iraq. "The use of lethal drones has not been discussed nor is it even under consideration for Iraq," an administration official tells The Cable.


That should still be the case.  Thamer Hussein, in his wheelchair, went to the Hawija square with his son Mohammed Thamer to participate in the sit-in.    BRussells Tribunal provided his testimony about what ended up happening as Nouri's forces desceneded:

My son, who stood next to my wheelchair, refused to leave me alone. He told me that he was afraid and that we needed to get out of the area. We tried to leave. My son pushed my wheelchair and all around us, people were falling to the ground.
Shortly after that, two men dressed in military uniforms approached us. One of them spoke to us in Persian; therefore we didn’t understand what he said. His partner then translated. It was nothing but insults and curses. He then asked me “Handicapped, what do you want?” I did not reply. Finally I said to him, “Kill me, but please spare my son”. My son interrupted me and said, “No, kill me but spare my father”. Again I told him “Please, spare my son. His mother is waiting for him and I am just a tired, disabled man. Kill me, but please leave my son”. The man replied “No, I will kill your son first and then you. This will serve you as a lesson.” He then took my son and killed him right in front of my eyes. He fired bullets into his chest and then fired more rounds. I can’t recall anything after that. I lost consciousness and only woke up in the hospital, where I underwent surgery as my intestines were hanging out of my body as a result of the shot.
After all of what has happened to me and my little son – my only son, the son who I was waiting for to grow up so he could help me – after all that, I was surprised to hear Ali Ghaidan (Lieutenant General, Commander of all Iraqi Army Ground Forces) saying on television, “We killed terrorists” and displaying a list of names, among them my name: Thamer Hussein Mousa.
I ask you by the name of God, I appeal to everyone who has a shred of humanity. Is it reasonable to label me a terrorist while I am in this situation, with this arm, and with this paralyzed leg and a blind eye?
I ask you by the name of God, is it reasonable to label me a terrorist? I appeal to all civil society and human rights organizations, the League of Arab States and the Conference of Islamic States to consider my situation; all alone with my five baby daughters, with no one to support us but God. I was waiting for my son to grow up and he was killed in this horrifying way.

I hold Obama responsible for this act because he is the one who gave them these weapons. The weapons and aircrafts they used and fired upon us were American weapons. I also hold the United States of America responsible for this criminal act, above all, Obama.

Nouri does not need drones.  More importantly, the Iraqi people do not need a Nouri armed with drones.


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THIS JUST IN! HE FAILS AGAIN!

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


CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O IS TICKING OFF FOREIGN LEADERS WHO SAY HIS ACTIONS ARE ALSO HARMING CATCHING TERRORISTS.

IN OTHER WORDS, HE'S A FAILURE ON ALL COUNTS.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:


It's amazing what gets coverage in the US media and what doesn't.  Iraq is the war the media withdrew from -- and to think of all the scorn they heaped on war resisters who refused to participate due to ethics.  For the media, it was money and cowardice.  Today, to flip through what passes for cable news is to realize just how much trash and nonsense is shoved off on the American people daily.  Comedy Central has proved as damaging as Jon Stewart once accused Crossfire of being.


Yesterday, we attended a hearing.  Not on Iraq, not on veterans, not on a topic we cover here.  We're noting it (briefly) now because this hearing has been ignored.  It's been ignored as much as the "invisible" children the Chair of the Subcommittee spoke of.   "We cannot allow this to continue," insisted US House Rep Dave Richert but to who did he insist this when the press is silent on the hearing?


Subcommittee Chair Dave Reichert:  I think most people know that before getting elected to Congress, I spent 32 years in law enforcement in King County and I became sheriff in 1997 and left in January of 2005 to come to Congress.  I saw first-hand the tragedies that children face when they're not cared for by loving parents.  It was in the sheriff's office where I first witnessed the horrors of child sex trafficking and it convinced me that we needed to do more to protect our youth at risk of abuse.  And in late summer of 1982, I began a 20-year journey that would focus my attention on this issue like nothing else ever could.  On August 12 of 1982, I was called to investigate the death of a young woman whose body was found in the Green River just south of Seattle and suburban Kent, Washington.  Of course, I didn't know then that that was the beginning of 20 years, I thought that I was investigating one murder.  Three days later, I received a call about two more bodies being found in the river.  And, as I was investigating that crime scene, I found a third body on the banks of the river.  Finding these victims began our two decade hunt for a man who became known as The Green River Killer who, once caught, confessed to killing more than 70 young women who had been involved in the sex trade.   Of the 48 known victims of The Green River Killer, at least 17 were minors, children who had been abused or neglected, who had run away from home, who had been victimized and ultimately killed.  Ridgway pled guilty to 49 murders and, like he said, probably killed 79 or 80.  The sad part of the story is the families who will never see their daughters again, lives lost, of course, people recognize that.  But the community didn't see these children.  Driving from home to work to work to home, they were invisible. This issue is not just an abstract problem from a faraway place for me, it's personal.  As Chairman, I focused on how we can improve the child welfare system and help children in foster care lead successful lives.  One of the most devastating examples of the vulnerability of children in foster care is when they become victims of sex trafficking.  In 2010, officials in Los Angeles reported that 59% of juveniles arrested for prostitution were in foster care.  Of children reported missing to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children who were also likely sex trafficking victims, 60% were in foster care or group homes when they ran away.  Research cited by the Dept of US Health and  Human Services shows the majority of sex trafficked youth experience sexual abuse growing up.  



Subcommittee Ranking Member Lloyd Doggett observed, "While there is not one piece of legislation that will stop sex trafficking of children, we can't allow complacency to stop us from doing everything in our power to put a stop to this. Our first task in this Subcommittee, given our jurisdiction, is to ensure the child welfare system doesn't become a pipeline to prostitution."

The Subcommittee heard from two panels.  The first was made up of members of Congress: US House Reps Erik Paulsen, Lousie Slaughter, Ted Poe and Karen Bass and, via video presentation, US Senator Orrin Hatch. The issue, Reichert noted, demonstrated "true bipartisanship so we have Democrats and Republicans testifying here today."

The second panel was Human Rights Project for Girls' Withelma Ortiz Walker Pettigrew, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's John Ryan, Center for Children and Youth Justice's Bobbe J. Bridge. YouthCare's Melinda Giovengo and Texans Care For Children's Ashley Harris.

As if anticipating the media blackout that would surround the hearing, US House Rep Erik Paulsen observed, "This is an issue that people don't always like to talk about.  And while we read stories about it going on in foreign countries, the reality is that it's happening right in our backyards."  Paulsen and Slaughter are sponsoring HR 2744, the Child Sex Trafficking Data and Response Act.

US House Rep Louise Slaughter:  [. . .] [T]he part of this bill that is of primary importance to me is that the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act will be amended to require that child victims of sex trafficking will now be considered victims of abuse and neglect, making them eligible to receive services within the child welfare system.  The idea that a young person rescued from a sex trafficking operation could be considered an offender within the juvenile justice system was shocking to me.  These are victims in the strongest sense of the world -- children who have been preyed upon by those who would take advantage of their situation, the fear and loneliness that comes from being in the foster care system, to use them to their own advantage.  They deserve help, a chance at healing and wholeness, not a criminal record.


Senator Hatch continued that thread by noting, "I'm sure many Americans would be surprised to learn that most child welfare agencies will not serve trafficked children and youth who are not in the custody of a biological or foster family or living in a group home.  Often these children, who are not legally able to give consent for sex, are arrested for prostitution and referred to the juvenile justice system."

US House Rep Karen Bass has introduced HR 1732, Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act.  GovTrack.US notes:

Status

This bill was assigned to a congressional committee on April 25, 2013, which will consider it before possibly sending it on to the House or Senate as a whole.

Progress

Introduced	Apr 25, 2013
Referred to Committee	Apr 25, 2013
Reported by Committee	...
Passed House	...
Passed Senate	...
Signed by the President	...

Prognosis

0% chance of getting past committee.
0% chance of being enacted.

Only 11% of bills made it past committee and only about 3% were enacted in 2011–2013. [show factors | methodology]

Cosponsors

33 cosponsors (25D, 8R) (show)         

Prognosis?  "0% chance of getting past committee.  0% chance of being enacted."  If the press was doing their job, might the prognosis be better?

US House Rep Ted Poe:  Let me tell you the story of Anna, a survivor who was brave enough to tell her story, which I heard from Shared Hope International.  After Anna's family passed away, she was placed in the foster care system at the age of three.  She was shuffled from home to home until age 12 when she was finally adopted by a loving family.  As a typical pre-teen, she did not like her family's rules.  She hung out at the corner store where she could break the rules and eat junk food without her family knowing.  There, she made a friend whom she thought she could trust.  Little did she know that the 'friend' she met at the corner store was not actually a friend at all.  One day, when she got into a fight with her parents, as teenagers do, she called her 'friend' from the store, who promptly picked her up.  Anna didn't know that this call would change her life forever.  Her 'friend' was actually a trafficker.  He was violent.  He beat her and sold her body.  She feared running away or putting up a fight because he threatened her family's lives.  So she stayed.  And the emotional, physical and sexual abuse continued.  Ann became convinced that her family no longer wanted her.  She felt helpless and scared.  After almost four years of this unspeakable abuse, Anna eventually escaped and was reunited with her family.  [. . .] She now has a ministry for sex trafficking survivors and runs an outreach program for at risk-youth.


Congress looks at American youth at risk and no one cares enough to report?  We have a very sick media in this country creating a trash culture that grows ever more toxic. The information we need is kept from us and, this time, it's not because it was stamped "TOP SECRET," it's because the press was too busy having fun to do anything of value.



Since we're on the topic of Congress, let's note Senator Charles Schumer is calling for the Jewish Archives to be turned over to the Jewish community and not the Iraqi government.  The US National Archives explains:


On May 6, 2003, just days after the Coalition forces took over Baghdad, 16 American soldiers from Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha, a group assigned to search for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, entered Saddam Hussein’s flooded intelligence building. In the basement, under four feet of water, they found thousands of books and documents relating to the Jewish community of Iraq – materials that had belonged to synagogues and Jewish organizations in Baghdad.
The water-logged materials quickly became moldy in Baghdad’s intense heat and humidity. Seeking guidance, the Coalition Provisional Authority placed an urgent call to the nation’s foremost conservation experts at the National Archives. Just a week later, National Archives Director of Preservation Programs Doris Hamburg and Conservation Chief Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler arrived in Baghdad via military transport to assess the damage and make recommendations for preservation of the materials. Both experts share this extraordinary story and take you “behind the scenes” in this brief video [http://tinyurl.com/IraqiJA]. This video is in the public domain and not subject to any copyright restrictions. The National Archives encourages its use and free distribution.
Given limited treatment options in Baghdad, and with the agreement of Iraqi representatives, the materials were shipped to the United States for preservation and exhibition. Since then, these materials have been vacuum freeze-dried, preserved and photographed under the direction of the National Archives. The collection includes more than 2,700 Jewish books and tens of thousands of documents in Hebrew, Arabic, Judeo-Arabic and English, dating from 1540 to the 1970s. A special website to launch this fall will make these historic materials freely available to all online as they are digitized and catalogued. This work was made possible through the assistance of the Department of State, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Center for Jewish History.
The Jews of Iraq have a rich past, extending back to Babylonia. These materials provide a tangible link to this community that flourished there, but in the second half of the twentieth century dispersed throughout the world. Today, fewer than five Jews remain. 

As noted yesterday, Senator Chuck Schumer is calling for the archives not to be shipped back to Iraq but handed over to their rightful owners, the Jewish community.  Dan Friedman (New York Daily News) reported:


  Schumer Wednesday urged the State Department “to do everything in their power to ensure that these treasured artifacts remain available and accessible to Jews worldwide.”
In a letter Wednesday to Secretary of State John Kerry, Schumer urged the department to work with Jewish groups in the United States and abroad to find another home for the documents.
"Since the exile of Jews from Iraq, virtually no Jewish life remains in the country,” Schumer wrote. “This treasured collection belongs to the Jewish community and should be made available to them."

Schumer is not alone.  US House Rep Ilena Ros-Lehtinen's office issued the following statement yesterday:

“It’s imperative that we preserve the history of the Jewish community of Iraq so that future generations will always remember their ancestors’ experiences and historical contributions”

(WASHINGTON) – Today, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a senior member of the Florida congressional delegation, co-authored a letter, along with U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, urging Secretary of State John Kerry to return historic communal and religious items currently on display at the National Archives to the Iraqi Jewish community and their descendants, and not the government of Iraq. These artifacts, discovered in a decrepit state by U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq in 2003, were rescued and brought to the United States for repair and preservation.  Next spring, these items are scheduled to be sent back to Iraq but Ros-Lehtinen and Israel are asking that they be returned to their rightful inheritors.
Statement by Ros-Lehtinen: “I’m pleased to join my colleague Steve in urging Secretary Kerry and the State Department to return these ancient Jewish artifacts to their rightful owners. The Iraqi government has absolutely no right or legitimate claim to these artifacts. These communal, religious and personal items were left behind in a temple in Baghdad to be safeguarded as the vast majority of Jews were forced to flee Iraq due to rampant persecution, harassment and anti-Semitic hatred, only to see them stolen by Saddam Hussein and his thugs. Once thought to be lost and gone forever, we now have a remarkable opportunity to restore a piece of an ancient Jewish community’s collective memory. It’s imperative that we preserve the history of the Jewish community of Iraq so that future generations will always remember their ancestors’ experiences and historical contributions. It would be criminal for the U.S. government to be complicit in denying the Jewish community what is rightfully theirs.”
Statement by Israel: “I am grateful that these artifacts, which represent the rich and vibrant Jewish community that once existed in Iraq, have been restored. However, I do not believe that we should send these treasures back to the Iraqi Government. That’s why I’m working with my colleague Rep. Ros-Lehtinen to urge the U.S. Government to facilitate a process by which we can return the artifacts to their rightful owners or their owners’ descendants.”

#######

JNS.org notes, "The State Department plans to return the archive to the Iraqi government, in line with a written agreement between the two parties."  A written agreement regarding the return of property is not binding when it's discovered that the property in question was stolen.  The Iraqi government had no legal rights to the property and committed fraud by signing the agreement.  Fraud can be prosecuted.  The agreement has no legal standing.


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"THIS JUST IN! BARRY O GIRLS DOWN!"

THIS JUST IN! BARRY O GIRLS DOWN!

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

THE CONTRACTORS HIRED TO CREATE THE OBAMACARE WEBSITE REFUSE TO FALL ON THE SWORDS AND PRETEND THE PROBLEMS ARE THEIR FAULT AND DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS STATE IT'S TIME FOR BARRY O TO "MAN UP."

GIRL DOWN!

THAT'S WHAT IT IS AT THE WHITE HOUSE WHERE PRINCESS BARRY O INSISTS HE WILL FIND A WAY TO BLAME SOMEONE ELSE.

"IF I WORK REAL HARD," HE TOLD THESE REPORTERS AT THE WHITE HOUSE THIS MORNING, "I'M SURE I CAN FIND A WAY TO PIN THIS ON HILLARY."



FROM THE TCI WIRE:



The crazy never ends because it's fed all over the world.  As an American, I should point the finger first at my own.  That means MSNBC and Zach Roth.  Roth made his bad (minor) name at CJR where he proved he could play partistan but demonstrated skills for little else.  He's at MSNBC now - -and are we surprised. He suddenly 'cares' about Iraq.  Why?  So he can bash Bush again.

Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal.  He will probably never be punished.  Henry Kissinger still walks free.  At some point, you let go and you focus on what matters or else you're the crazy pushing a cart down the street and ranting to yourself.  Zach's doing his version of Ross Geller (Friends) screaming, "We were on a break!" At this point, life has gone on, why can't you go with it?


Peter Baker's published a book that's not going to break sales records.  It's about the Bush administration.  So, on the left, some of us will use it for source material and inspiration and some of us will read those articles.  But most people won't buy the book.  Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House.  I have nothing against Baker, who is a strong journalist, and we'll gladly give his book a mention and link.


But not only do I have limited interest in reading it (I'm thrilled Bully Boy Bush is out of the White House, why would I want to relive those days?), I don't have the time.  Because Iraq's on fire.  Some people complain about the snapshots of late -- where are veterans (good question, I'm trying to work them in this week), where's Syria, where's the war press, where's The Drone War.

The snapshots of late really have just focused on Iraq because so much is going on there.

Zach Roth's nonsense isn't helping the Iraqi people.  The Iraq War did not end -- rising death tolls make that very clear as did Tim Arango's September 2012 reporting for the New York Times noting (in the middle of the report) that Barack had sent more US troops into Iraq ("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.")  The only thing that ended in Iraq was American media interest.

Zach Roth makes that clear yet again with another story about America.  It's funny that on the left, we repeatedly -- and rightly -- complain about American journalists writing books about Iraq that ignore Iraqis.  How is that any different Roth's unnecessary and useless article that doesn't note the Iraqi people?

Let's all hope that at the end, as Roth typed one handed and used the other to grind his tiny gherkin, he reached climax because, truth be told, his bad article doesn't do a damn thing for anyone else, especially not the Iraqi people who continue to suffer all these years after Bully Boy Bush left the White House.


Zach's offered us a useless piece that demonstrates bad writers shouldn't fancy themselves George Lucas and falsely think that they can handle the epilogue of American Graffiti.  Zach can't.  Even at his embarrassing and limited task, he fails.  Because sexist trash eventually fails.  He included Dan Senor.  Why?  Is Dan Senor an architect of the Iraq War?  No.   Is he even the early public voice -- spokesperson division -- for the illegal war?  No, that would be Victoria (aka "Tori") Clarke who was the Pentagon spokesperson in the lead up to the war and after.  We get it,  empty sack Zach, your piece wasn't journalism.  It was chance to attack Republicans.  And Senor worked on Mitt Romney's campaign.  So you plug him in and you ignore Clarke.  But, as Danny Schechter observed years ago, "Pentagon publicist Victoria Clarke, around the time the war began, said that journalists who went out on their own were 'putting themselves at risk'."  Here's SourceWatch on Victoria Clarke:


In early 2002, as "detailed planning for a possible Iraq invasion" began, then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke launched an effort to recruit "key influentials" to help sell a wary public on the war, reported the New York Times's David Barstow in April 2008. Clarke and her senior aide, Brent T. Krueger, eventually signed up more than 75 retired military officers, who appeared on television and radio news shows as military analysts, and/or penned newspaper op/ed columns. The Pentagon referred to the military analysts as "message force multipliers" or "surrogates," and held weekly meetings with them, which continued at least until the time of the April 2008 Times report. ^[4]
The Defense Department also paid for some analysts to travel to Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, encouraging them to counter negative press with Pentagon talking points. Former NBC military analyst Kenneth Allard called the effort "psyops on steroids." Many of the analysts were also lobbyists for defense contractors, and boasted of their Pentagon access to potential clients. This financial conflict discouraged the analysts from questioning or criticizing the Pentagon's claims. The Pentagon also tracked what the analysts said, via a six-figure contract with Omnitec Solutions, as William V. Cowan learned. He was fired from the Pentagon analysts group after saying on Fox News that the United States was "not on a good glide path right now" in Iraq. ^[4]


In April 2003, a month after the Iraq War started, Democracy Now! did a piece on Victoria Clarke.  From the intro:

In many ways Victoria Clarke has become the voice of the Pentagon. As the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Clarke oversees daily press briefings. She has also been credited with forming the idea of embedded journalists.

Her ability to spin the news should come as little surprise. Clarke came to the Pentagon after a successful career at PR giant Hill and Knowlton.
You may recall Hill and Knowlton and its role before the first Gulf War. A decade ago, Hill & Knowlton crafted a PR campaign that purposely mislead Congress to help justify the bombing of Iraq.
At a Congressional hearing, Hill and Knowlton represented a woman who testified she saw Iraqi soldiers throw Kuwaiti babies out of hospital incubators. But what Hill and Knowlton didn’t say was that the 15-year-old girl identified as Nayirah was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador and that what she said wasn’t true. She had left Kuwaiti long before the Iraqi soldiers arrived.
The White House has also tapped another PR pro, Margaret Tutwiler, to serve as spokesperson to the Pentagon’s Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq.

The segment featured John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper's magazine,  who had just 'debated' (they weren't live, as he pointed out, they were "adjacent") Victoria Clarke on 60 Minutes.

John R. MacArthur:  You'll recall that before the war a lot of people assumed, or the administration wanted us to assume, that the Iraqi people would rise up and help overthrow Saddam Hussein.  And, of course, we were rudely surprised and were not welcomed. In fact, at this time, it seems like the welcome has already worn thin -- even among the people who are glad that Saddam is gone.  So instead of addressing that, she says-says -- and this, again, speaks to the brilliance of their p.r. campaign -- she says, 'You'll recall that before the war, a lot of anti-war people said that Arab countries would rise up in rage -- that the street, the Arab street would rise up in rage against the United States if we invaded Iraq or entered Iraq.  And that hasn't happened.'  You see, so she completely changes the subject.  Instead of addressing the fact that we weren't welcomed, that there was not an uprising welcoming us, she says, 'You see, the leftists, the anti-war people were wrong about the Arab street rising up and overthrowing other Arab governments. 




Even at bad journalism, Zach Roth fails and it's probably past time that outlets started examining whether or not their 'reporters' are working biases or reporting.

Zach's crazy helped no one -- barring his own nutting at the end.  Again, Zach, let's hope you reached climax, you'd be the only one in the room but that's probably true of most time times you climax.

FYI, Lucas' American Graffiti is now 40 years old.  One of the first events observing the anniversary is Candy Clarke's Friday and Saturday appearances in Fort Worth, Texas:



Friday and Saturday, Clark will return to her Tech stomping grounds as part of a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Graffiti. At 9 a.m. Friday, the school will present “A Conversation With Candy Clark” in the school auditorium as part of its Green B. Trimble Distinguished Lecturer Series.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, the school will present the Central City Fall Festival & Classic Car Show, a tribute to Graffiti, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Director George Lucas’ movie recalled his youth in Modesto, Calif., by telling the stories of several young people on the cusp of adulthood during one eventful night on the streets of a small Northern California town.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/10/23/5269888/american-graffiti-star-candy-clark.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Candy Clark played Debbie Dunham in American Graffiti and in the sequel More American Graffiti.  For the first film, she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award.  Also in the cast of the 1973 classic were Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Suzanne Somers, Mackenzie Phillips, Paul Le Mat, Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Charles Martin Smith, Kathleen Quinlan, Manuel Padilla Jr., Bo Hopkins, Kay Lenz, Debralee Scott and Susan Richardson, among others.  And for those who don't get the connection between the film classic and Zach's bad 'reporting,' American Graffiti follows events on a fall 1962 night and, at the end, features a where-are-they-now epilogue to explain what happened to the characters.  George Lucas can pull that off. Zach Roth can't pull of his attempted imitation.  Or even note he's ripping off the film as American Graffiti celebrates its 40th anniversary.

And if you want to talk about the Iraq War and the US, if you want that conversation to take place, maybe you show the guts Bruce A. Dixon (Black Agenda Report) does and address Jeh Johnson?




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JOFI JOSEPH HAS BIG PROBLEMS AND, FOR A CHANGE, HIS BIGGEST PROBLEM IS NOT BEING NAMED "JOFI.'

JOFI WAS SET TO MOVE FROM  NSA AT THE WHITE HOUSE TO THE PENTAGON WHEN WORD BROKE THAT HE WAS THE BITCHY BOI TWEETER WHO SOCKED IT TO THE MERKIN MARRIAGE OF CASS AND SAMMY AND KNOCKED VALERIE JARRETT AS WELL.

REACHED FOR COMMENT, A TEARFUL JOFI TOLD THESE REPORTERS, "I NEVER INSULTED THE DALIBAHAM!  MICHELLE DID.  SHE SAID HE HAD STINKY FEET!  WHEN DO THEY FIRE HER!"


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Iraq came up at today's State Dept press briefing.




QUESTION: Iraq-related, but on the drones. Why – what is the policy behind deploying drones or how do you do it? Because in Iraq, we know where the ISIS camps are, they are becoming more and more emboldened. They are wreaking havoc on the country, yet there are no – they are not subject to drone strikes. Could you explain why not?


MS. HARF: I think, broadly speaking, I would say that we look at every terrorist threat wherever it is and determine the best tools to go after it. We obviously work very closely with the Iraqi Government, Prime Minister Maliki will be here in the coming days, and we’ll continue talking to folks about it going forward.


QUESTION: Is this likely a subject that you will discuss with the Maliki Government?


MS. HARF: Counterterrorism in general? Absolutely. We discuss is all the time with the Iraqis.


QUESTION: But you do agree that the camps of the Islamic State of Iraq in Sham are going all over the place in Iraq, and they’re attacking --


MS. HARF: Well, we certainly --


QUESTION: -- more boldly, right?


MS. HARF: We’ve certainly said that the terrorist attacks in Iraq have increased significantly, that it’s of increasing concern to us – very serious concern to us. I’m sure this will be a topic of conversation when they come to Washington.


QUESTION: Okay. Wouldn’t the using drones be effective against these terrorists?


MS. HARF: Again, we make decisions on counterterrorism differently everywhere and the Iraqi Government we work very closely with to help them increase their counterterrorism capability.




First off, "We obviously work very closely with the Iraqi Government, Prime Minister Maliki will be here in the coming days, and we’ll continue talking to folks about it going forward."?  That's the first time the State Dept has acknowledged Nouri's visit.  October 9th, despite press reports and Nouri al-Maliki's office announcing the visit  days before, Marie played dumb on the visit.  (It was playing, right?)  Not only did she insist that she knew nothing of a visit, she promised that when there was something there, she'd announce it ("When we do, I’ll let you guys know.").  October 16th, the White House announced the visit. Six days later, Marie Harf finally mentions the meet-up, tries to slip it in.  "When we do, I'll let you guys know"?  Good thing she doesn't worry about being an honest broker of information.

Second, the reason for the question may not be clear to many.  The topic is drones.  And we'll come back to that at the end of the snapshot.  But on his August visit to the US, Iraq's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari made clear the government wanted drones.  Indira A.R. Lakshmanan (Bloomberg News) reported, "The top Iraqi diplomat’s comments are the first time he has publicly raised the possibility of working with the U.S. on anti-terrorist drone strikes, a clandestine program whose use against terror groups in Pakistan has fueled widespread protest and damaged the U.S. alliance there."  At the start of this month,  John Hudson (Foreign Policy) reported that Iraq will not get the US drones that the Iraqi government has been calling for:


Though neither Iraqi nor U.S. officials will say who called off the drones, it's no secret who began discussing them in the first place. In an August 17 trip to Washington, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters that Baghdad is seeking U.S. advisers, air surveillance or drone strikes to combat al-Qaeda's grip on the country. "We cannot fight these increasing terrorist" threats alone, he said. Speaking of drone strikes specifically, he said as long as they were used to "target al-Qaeda and their bases," without "collateral damage," Iraqis would welcome them.
That same month, Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. Iraq Lukman Faily reiterated Iraq's interest in drones. "The reason we're now considering drone support is because we need to get better control of the sky so we can track and destroy al-Qaeda camps in the country," Faily told The Cable.
It's not hard to understand why they'd be interested in the unmanned aircraft. On Monday, the detonation of 15 car bombs in Baghdad left dozens dead in an event that would've shocked any other country not embroiled in a civil war. However, in Iraq, it was only the 38th such atrocity in the last 12 months. In 2013 alone, Iraq is averaging 68 car bombings a month. The United Nations reports that 5,740 civilians were killed since January, which is almost two times more deaths than recorded in all of 2010.
Despite the staggering numbers, the U.S. isn't about to open up a new drone war in Iraq. "The use of lethal drones has not been discussed nor is it even under consideration for Iraq," an administration official tells The Cable.


Nor could it be.  Such a possibility would trigger the US Congress exploring how US trainers in Iraq now (Special Ops) have trained Nouri's SWAT force and how they helped Nouri's SWAT force plan a mission in April.  In Kirkuk Province, there was something Nouri wanted to put down.  Among the problems for Nouri?  Kikruk forces would not let them enter.  This came out the month after when   Shalaw Mohammed (Niqash) interviewed Governor Najm al-Din Karim:

NIQASH: The incidents in Hawija, where protestors were killed by the Iraqi military, also seems to have seen more Iraqi army forces enter Kirkuk.

Al-Din Karim: Actually those forces did not come through Kirkuk - they entered Hawija by helicopter. They tried to come through Kirkuk but we prevented them from doing so. I know the Prime Minister disapproved of this – he told me so last time we met.

Nouri's forces were transported in -- by helicopters supplied by the US government -- and what did they do?  This is the April 23rd massacre of a peaceful sit-in in Hawija which resulted from  Nouri's federal forces storming in.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.   AFP reported the death toll rose to 53 dead.  UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).

Those 8 dead children wouldn't make for a happy Congressional hearing.  There are also eye witnesses who can offer reports.  BRussells Tribunal offered the testimony of Thamer Hussein Mousa who was participating in the sit-in with his son Mohammed Thamer. The father's left arm and left leg were amputated but he was among the people participating and he was terrorized by Nouri's forces when they stormed in.  His son was attempting to push his father -- in a wheel chair -- to safety:

My son, who stood next to my wheelchair, refused to leave me alone. He told me that he was afraid and that we needed to get out of the area. We tried to leave. My son pushed my wheelchair and all around us, people were falling to the ground.
Shortly after that, two men dressed in military uniforms approached us. One of them spoke to us in Persian; therefore we didn’t understand what he said. His partner then translated. It was nothing but insults and curses. He then asked me “Handicapped, what do you want?” I did not reply. Finally I said to him, “Kill me, but please spare my son”. My son interrupted me and said, “No, kill me but spare my father”. Again I told him “Please, spare my son. His mother is waiting for him and I am just a tired, disabled man. Kill me, but please leave my son”. The man replied “No, I will kill your son first and then you. This will serve you as a lesson.” He then took my son and killed him right in front of my eyes. He fired bullets into his chest and then fired more rounds. I can’t recall anything after that. I lost consciousness and only woke up in the hospital, where I underwent surgery as my intestines were hanging out of my body as a result of the shot.
After all of what has happened to me and my little son – my only son, the son who I was waiting for to grow up so he could help me – after all that, I was surprised to hear Ali Ghaidan (Lieutenant General, Commander of all Iraqi Army Ground Forces) saying on television, “We killed terrorists” and displaying a list of names, among them my name: Thamer Hussein Mousa.
I ask you by the name of God, I appeal to everyone who has a shred of humanity. Is it reasonable to label me a terrorist while I am in this situation, with this arm, and with this paralyzed leg and a blind eye?
I ask you by the name of God, is it reasonable to label me a terrorist? I appeal to all civil society and human rights organizations, the League of Arab States and the Conference of Islamic States to consider my situation; all alone with my five baby daughters, with no one to support us but God. I was waiting for my son to grow up and he was killed in this horrifying way.

I hold Obama responsible for this act because he is the one who gave them these weapons. The weapons and aircrafts they used and fired upon us were American weapons. I also hold the United States of America responsible for this criminal act, above all, Obama.

That's, to say the least, embarrassing for the executive branch.  They were monitoring what was going on.  The assault took place on a Tuesday.  The protesters faced difficulties on Friday.  This appeared here on Sunday, April 21st  -- two days before the assault:

I had thought we'd go over the violence and any election commentary but we only finished at Third about 30 minutes ago and I had a friend at the State Dept who had called repeatedly, I didn't know, the cell phone was off.  He informed me that the US was "closely following" developments in Hawija and figured I was as well.  No, I'd been working on Third forever and a day.  I told him give me 15 minutes to search Arabic social media and I'd call him back with what was being said.  This will be big in Arabic social media but it's not yet.  Most are unaware of what's going on and -- as usual -- you can't count on the western press to tell you a damn thing.
Hawija is a hot spot right now.  And we're not going to distract from that with other things -- including the Falluja bombing that we can cover tomorrow.

The US government was following what was happening, they knew it was a hot spot.  And two days later, 53 people were killed -- including 8 children.  You think that's going to make for a sweet and peaceful Congressional hearing?

Maybe the State Dept could convince Congress -- remember, State is over the US mission in Iraq -- that although the situation was tense two days before the slaughter, they had no way of knowing a slaughter would take place.

But maybe a senator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee might wonder how they thought it would end in anything other than violence since January 24th,  Nouri's forces sent two protesters (and one reporter) to the hospital,  January 7th, Nouri's forces assaulted four protesters in Mosul, January 25th, his forces fired on Falluja protesters, killing and wounding many, and March 8th, Nouri's force fired on protesters in Mosul killing three.

So do you really think the State Dept can sell the lie that they had no idea Hawija would end in violence?

Even Marie Harf, with her ample stupidity, would probably have a hard time selling that.

Especially when the only public investigation exonerates the demonstrators.  Shafaq News reported in May:

The parliamentary investigative committee in Hawija incident revealed on Tuesday, that 90% of the dead in the army’s’ storming incident to the Sit-in Square were shot in the head , abdomen and chest areas, while made it clear that the weapons that were stolen from the army were outside the Sit-in Square.

The parliament has formed an investigative committee of the various parliamentary blocs on the back ground of Iraqi army storming the Sit –in square in Hawija in Kirkuk.

[. . .]

He [Iraqiya MP Muthehar Al-Janabi] added that “The report confirms that the Sit-in Square was free of weapons”.


Third, that incident -- among many others -- does not back up Marie Harf's claim that the State Dept discusses counterterrorism with Nouri and his government "all the time" -- unless she's disclosing that the US government is not just passively standing by as the Iraqi people are terrorized but instead actively involved in planning, with Nouri,  how to terrorize the people.




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AGING BEAUTY BARRY O ADMITS OBAMACARE HAS HAD A SLOPPY AND FLOPPY ROLL OUT.






IN AN ATTEMPT TO MAKE AMENDS, BARRY O, SHOWN ABOVE, IS PERSONALLY SELLING OBAMACARE TO EACH AMERICAN.



FROM THE TCI WIRE:




Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi publicly declared (speech in full via the National Council of Resistance of Iran or in the repost we did):


I want also to ask those countries, especially the United States, which still blindly support the current Prime Minister who keeps deceiving the international community by giving false reports about the situation in the country and never fulfills his promises, I ask them to reconsider their stands and help build a real and well-established democracy in Iraq. 


The remarks followed the White House announcement last week that US President Barack "Obama will host Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the White House," next week, Friday, November 4th.

The meet-up some would liken to a presidential audience being granted to despot Augusto Pinochet.  And the Iraqi Vice President is not the only one who's noted the problems with Iraq's Prime Minister.  As the editorial board of the Guardian observed in an editorial a year ago which wondered if the US government even cared what happened in Iraq now?  From the editorial:



As Toby Dodge, a leading Iraqi scholar, has chronicled, Maliki gained complete control over Iraq's security forces, subverting the formal chain of command, moving the office of commander-in-chief into his office, and creating provincial command centres, commanded by generals who were handpicked by him. Under him, the Iraq special operations forces, described as the best in the Middle East, became a praetorian guard, dubbed "Fedayeen al-Maliki". The same goes for the intelligence services and the judiciary. Having seen off those Sunnis who downed their arms and tried politics in 2010, Maliki's next target will be the Kurds, whose autonomy he will threaten, and then the Sadrists. The end product will be a centralised state not unlike Vladimir Putin's Russia. Like Putin, Maliki practises a form of competitive authoritarianism. This employs the toolkit of a democratic state (a parliament, set elections, a constitution) for a purpose that is anything but – the maintenance of power at all costs, torture and death squads included.


While at the start of the year, The Economist observed:



Mr Maliki, who first came to power as a compromise prime minister in 2005 and then patched together a flimsy government in 2010, bears much of the blame for provoking these tensions. The move against Mr Issawi baffled Iraqi and foreign observers, who see Mr Maliki’s grudging response to the subsequent anger as foolishly inadequate. The grievances of the Sunnis who feel ignored go beyond salaries and harsh policing to a more general anger over rampant corruption and resentment of Mr Maliki’s dictatorial tendencies.
Yet most observers seem to think Iraq can avoid returning to mayhem. Few in Iraq’s political class relish the idea of renewed conflict, says a London-based analyst. He cites as positive signs that Sunni protests have remained peaceful so far, and that calls for the removal of Mr Maliki or scrapping the 2005 constitution, the drafting of which most Sunni politicians boycotted to their later regret, have failed to gain traction. Some Shia politicians, including Muqtada al-Sadr, a young cleric with a strong following who was long branded a dangerous firebrand, have even voiced sympathy with Sunni demands.



This summer, the Guardian editorial board noted, "But the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has proved to be a disastrous leader, subverting the constitution to concentrate power in his own hands, to exclude the Sunni minority and potentially to threaten the so far peaceful Kurdish north. The resulting Sunni backlash, exploited by al-Qaeda, is the background to the latest violence. The situation has been made worse by recent breakouts from the Abu Ghraib and Taji prisons, which returned veteran extremists to the fray and which suggest that the government may be as incompetent as it is dictatorial. Security, after all, is supposed to be Maliki's forte."   But Nouri's failed to provide security and the monthly death tolls are now the worst since 2008.

Back to Tareq al-Hashemi's speech last Thursday where he pointed out the security problems:

Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi:  As for the security, it has been increasingly deteriorating during the last two years in the country especially in the capital, Baghdad. UN reports said more 5000 people died and tens of thousands injured in violent attacks this year.
And when we want to investigate the responsibility for such horrible security collapse, the PM says that he cannot be held accountable although he is the Commander in Chief, and the acting Minister of Defense, and the acting Minister of Interior, and the acting Minister of National Security and the Head of Intelligence.
Security situation is declining although security forces are constantly growing and reached more than 1.5 million personnel now whereas the Iraqi population, excluding Kurdistan is only 25 million people. Moreover, the annual security budget takes more than 25 percent of the annual budget which is usually higher than 100 billion USD.

Nouri can't provide security.  But he can pay militias to kill Sunnis.  And the White House still wants him receiving US tax dollars.    Tim Arango (New York Times) broke that news in September.  Arango noted:

In supporting Asaib al-Haq, Mr. Maliki has apparently made the risky calculation that by backing some Shiite militias, even in secret, he can maintain control over the country’s restive Shiite population and, ultimately, retain power after the next national elections, which are scheduled for next year. Militiamen and residents of Shiite areas say members of Asaib al-Haq are given government badges and weapons and allowed freedom of movement by the security forces.

In the US, very few outlets have paid attention to Iraq.  One that has is the editorial board of the Providence Journal which noted last month, "Some would characterize today’s Iraqi government as authoritarian, not democratic. One result has been that minority Sunnis have seen their trust in Iraq’s nascent democratic institutions decline precipitously, to the point that al-Qaida has rekindled its bid to stir trouble there."  In May, Nussaibah Younis wrote a column for the New York Times and noted the best thing for Iraq would be for Nouri to resign, "Iraq's parliamentary democracy could survive a resignation. It is normal for a prime minister to step down and be replaced by another figure elected by Parliament. There are other capable Shiite politicians who could recruit and lead a national-unity government."

Nouri al-Maliki has failed at creating a better Iraq.  He's failed at political reconciliation as well; however, he never really cared about that and never did more than offer empty talk about that.  In an important new column,  Marc Lynch (Foreign Policy) makes many important points including how the White House has to make this meeting mean something:




The political failure in Iraq is nothing new and has very little to do with the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Maliki ignored such advice when there were 140,000 American troops in Iraq; he ignored it when those troops began to withdraw; and he ignored it after they left altogether. He was never going to make such concessions unless he felt them absolutely necessary for his own survival. In part due to the temporary security gains of the U.S. "surge" and co-optation of the Sunni insurgency, he never really felt that he did.
Things might be different now, though. The harvest of his exclusionary politics has been long months of sustained Sunni protest, renewed insurgency, and an increasing perception that the country is coming apart at the seams. A dramatic increase in violent deaths has driven a widely held fear that Iraq is unraveling and that the fire is again burning. The perverse consequence of this year's growing violence and political crisis could finally be that the carnage is finally enough to push him to such belated, reluctant concessions. His own political survival instincts, not American leverage, might finally bring him around. With fateful elections looming next year and troubling signs emerging about the contours of the new electoral law, the White House should do whatever it can during his visit to nudge him in that direction -- and condition all of the incentives that might be activated under the SFA (like the military and intelligence assistance Maliki wants) upon his doing so.
There is little question that Maliki's persistent exclusion of Sunnis and consolidation of power has kept Baghdad's perpetual political crisis boiling. The initially peaceful protest movement that broke out among Iraqi Sunnis earlier this year was driven by widespread grievances over his sectarian politics, his government's corruption, and his consolidation of autocratic power. Frustrations grew over his refusal to compromise, and exploded over the government's brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrations, such as April's bloody attack on protesters in Hawija. 


For the meeting to mean anything -- other than elevating a despot -- people are going to need to be honest.  The meeting takes place in 12 days and it's doubtful that the domestic, US media can get off its lazy ass and pay attention to Iraq.  It's also doubtful the Cult of St. Barack which tries to (falsely) pass itself off as the left in the United States will be of any help.  They're too busy playing defense for Barack.  They're obsessing over George W. Bush.

This is why the left gets no where in the United States.  When your boat is sinking, you have to toss things overboard.  If you're lucky, you might find these things later on.  But you toss stuff overboard or you sink.  And in 2013, obsessing over the idiot and War Criminal George W. Bush does not help the Iraqi people.  As Nouri gears up for his visit, your grudge is useless.  You hatred consumes you and you have nothing to offer.

Since Bully Boy Bush has thankfully been out of the White House, Nouri's targeted lesbians and gays in Iraq (having the Ministry of Interior -- which he controls since he refused to nominate anyone to head it -- visit schools and demonize gays and lesbians and ask children to harm and kill them puts the blood on Nouri's hands).  He is using executions to 'prune' the population.  He's doing that by having those from groups of political rivals executed while holding up an amnesty law that would let many off death row and out of prison.  He has attacked protesters and protesting itself.

At the end of August, Human Rights Watch issued a plea for Nouri to stop banning protests and HRW Middle East Director Joe Stork observed,  "It's ironic that officials suggest that using force to block peaceful demonstrations will assist Iraq's 'march to democracy.'  The authorities can ban demonstrations if they believe they will be violent, but here the concern seems that protests will be politically embarrassing or inconvenient."  Not only has he tried to ban the peaceful protests, he's called the protesters terrorists, and his forces have attacked the protesters.  The most infamous attack was the April 23rd massacre of a sit-in in Hawija which resulted from  Nouri's federal forces storming in.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.   AFP reported the death toll eventually (as some wounded died) rose to 53 dead.   UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).




Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi:  Iraq, which was supposed to be freed from dictatorship ten years ago and to be rebuilt as a democratic nation with your support as the free world of the international community, is now sinking into another form of dictatorship and authoritarianism; but this time also with the support of some members of the international community which were deceived and misled by the current ruling regime.


The reason Barack needs to take leadership?

He created this mess.  And that's the other reason to stop whining about Bully Boy Bush right now.

Iraq is worse off now and the reason is because of the will of the Iraqi people was spat on.

Yes, at the end of 2005, the Iraqi Parliament thought they were going to give Ibrahim al-Jaafari a second term as prime minister.  But the White House said differently.  They didn't want Ibrahim to have a second term for a variety of reasons.  They wanted Nouri al-Maliki to be prime minister.  And so, in 2006, the US government forced Nouri off on the Iraqi people.

That wasn't smart, it wasn't nice, it wasn't democratic.  But it was the Parliament that got overruled.

March 2010 (when Barack's in the White House), Iraqis went to the polls.  The winner was Iraqiya, headed by Ayad Allawi.  He was the winner even after Nouri's first tantrum.  Nouri had bribed and prevented opponents from running for office and thought he was a shoe-in, that his State of Law would be winning by a landslide.  He didn't like coming in second.  He demanded a recount and, because he's a bully, the UN and IHEC tossed a few votes his way.

That still didn't put State of Law in first place.

Nouri refused to vacate his office.  Can you imagine the uproar if Bully Boy Bush had decided he wouldn't step down in January 2009?

Nouri brought the Iraqi government to  a halt for over eight months.

And instead of calling this out, the White House backed it.  They supported Nouri.  They regularly offered 'prizes' (bribes) to various political blocs to try to win support for Nouri.  And how has that worked out?  A failure on every level.  Let's note corruption because a crooked election doesn't produce an honest politician and Nouri's corruption is well known.


Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi:  Local and foreign investors and businessmen usually say that the main obstacle to come to Iraq is the poor government effectiveness, marred by corruption and political interference. They consider poor governance more dangerous than security. Since April 2003, Iraq spent more than 630 billion USD in addition to more than 30 billion dollars from donor countries, while 30 percent of the population still live under poverty line, millions still spend their nights in full darkness because of power cut, thousands of pupils study on the floor in mud-made schools, and millions have no access to drinkable water in most provinces.
Iraq now ranks no (175) of the most corrupt countries in the 182 countries surveyed, as indicated by Transparency International. For the fifth year, Baghdad is considered the most dangerous place in the world to live in. UNDP recent report says that an average Iraqi must pay at least four bribes per year.
You must have heard of the corruption scandals by senior aides to the Prime Minister. The former Minister of Trade Mr. Falah Alsudani, who is a senior member of the PM’s political party, was officially accused and convicted of corruption. He is now free and living peacefully in London. The Ministry of Interior refused to ask the Interpol to arrest him.
The corruption of this government caused also the death of thousands of Iraqis as in the big scandal of purchasing technically-proved inefficient bomb-detection devices from a company in the UK. Iraq bought a device with 40 thousand USD while the actual cost is 20 USD.


The Iraqi people said "no" to Nouri but the White House didn't respect that.  Barack showed no respect for democracy or voting rights.  He just took a piss on both.

And the US got Nouri his second term.  Couldn't do it via the Iraqi Constitution.  The Iraqi Constitution put Iraqiya in charge.  So the White House brokered The Erbil Agreement.

This legal document gave Nouri a second term as prime minister in exchange for him offering things others wanted -- such as the Kurds getting Article 140 of the Constitution finally implemented and the dispute over Kirkuk at last resolved.

But Nouri used the contract to get a second term and then refused to honor the promises he made in The Erbil Agreement.  And the White House that swore the contract was binding and had the full backing of the US government?

They played dumb.  Over and over.

Barack pretended to care just long enough for Nouri to be named prime minister-designate and then he played dumb.

And he got away with it because The Cult of St. Barack can't stomach truth and because the US press responded to his attack on them by going meek and useless.  Dropping back to the November 10, 2011 snapshot when The Erbil Agreement allowed Nouri his second term:

Martin Chulov (Guardian) reports one hiccup in the process today involved Ayad Allawi who US President Barack Obama phoned asking/pleading that he accept the deal because "his rejection of post would be a vote of no confidence". Ben Lando, Sam Dagher and Margaret Coker (Wall St. Journal) confirm the phone call via two sources and state Allawi will take the post -- newly created -- of chair of the National Council On Higher Policy: "Mr. Obama, in his phone call to Mr. Allawi on Thursday, promised to throw U.S. weight behind the process and guarantee that the council would retain meaningful and legal power, according to the two officials with knowledge of the phone call."

Barack lied to Ayad Allawi.  That's reality.

When you draw up a contract, as the White House did, if it's not honored, if one person got what they wanted and everyone else got screwed?  You don't build loyalty or understanding but you do breed distrust and resentment and arrive at the crises Iraq has today.

Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi:  It is no secret anymore that Iraq is now held hostage by the current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his ruling party. Our experience with this government has dashed all hopes that Iraq will become a fully functioning democracy based on the rule of law.
As you all well know that terrorism exists in many parts of the world, why is it increasing in Iraq despite of the huge allocated budget for the security? Terrorism expands where there are feeding elements like injustice, poverty, corruption, and discrimination. I will show you how Almaliki helps the spread of terrorism in the country.
I am not exaggerating if I say that Iraq has never witnessed in its modern history, a government as worse as the current one. After eight years under this government, Iraq has been deteriorating in public services, social justice, transitional democracy, development, judiciary, national peace, security, and last but not least, foreign policy. Almaliki has not only become a threat to the future of Iraq, but also a danger to the unity of the country and stability in the region.


Eleven more days and Barack meets with Nouri.  Pressure needs to be applied.  The Iraqi people went to voting booth and tried to make a peaceful change in 2010.  Barack wouldn't let it happen.

He owes it to the Iraqi people to make this right.



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