CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O JUST GOT HIS REPORT CARD.
IT WAS NOT A JOYOUS MOMENT.
AND WERE HE HOPING TO SPLURGE AT MCDONALD'S OFF HIS BUCK FOR EVERY A . . . WELL, HE COULD ORDER ONCE OFF THE DOLLAR MENU AT LEAST.
WHAT THE GRADES REALLY UNDERSCORE IS HE'S NOT PREPARED, EVEN NOW, FOR THE OFFICE HE HOLDS AND HE DOES NOT GET ALONG WELL WITH OTHERS.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
His nonsense is really insulting, confusing TV talk show hosts with reporters, at a time when so many reporters around the world are being killed. The close of 2013 saw many updates on the continued violence around the world but, as Dirk Adriaensens "2013: Another year of slaughter in Iraq claims the lives of at least 21 media professionals" (BRussells Tribunal) points out, as bad as it seemed it is actually far deadlier for journalists in Iraq than was previously known:
In Iraq, at least 404 media professionals have been killed since the US invasion in 2003, among them 374 Iraqis, according to The BRussells Tribunal statistics. The impunity in Iraq is far worse than anywhere else in the world.
Dr. Yasser Salihee (here with his wife Dr. Raghad Wazzan) gave up his job at Yarmouk Hospital to become a journalist.
In memory of Dr Yasser Salihee,
an Iraqi special correspondent for the news agency Knight Ridder,
killed on 24 June 2005 by a single bullet of an American sniper as he
approached a checkpoint that had been thrown up near his home in western
Baghdad by US and Iraqi troops. Since May 2005, Dr. Salihee had been
reporting on the similarities between the death squads used in El
Salvador to obliterate their “insurgency” and the US military’s creation
of the “Wolf Brigade” that had been unleashed to eliminate the Iraqi
Resistance. Salihee had been gathering evidence that US-backed Iraqi
Ministry of Interior forces had been carrying out extra-judicial
killings. We believe that he was assassinated because he came too close to the truth.
There is serious doubt that the shooting was “an accident”.
Nevertheless, the Committee for The ‘Protection’ of Journalists (CPJ)
has thrown Dr Yasser Salihee in the dungeons of history. He doesn't figure in any of their death lists.
While Reporters Without Borders lists 11 Iraqi journalists killed in 2013 and the Committee for the Protection of Journalists lists 12, BRussells Tribunal reveals the actual number is at least 21.
These murders take place, as Dirk Adriaensens vividly explains, in a
lawless nation where killing a journalist matters so little that
investigations aren't even launched.
The Iraqi press sees this and knows this and yet still shows more
bravery in reporting than western outlets in Iraq do. Nouri has provided
no protection to journalists. Instead, his forces have attacked and
terrorized journalists. Played a 'joke' of pointing a gun at a New York Times correspondent,
kidnapped and beaten journalists who covered the February 2011
protests. In 2006, his first moves as prime minister was to attack
reporters. He tried to arrest them for covering the violence. He was
humored by the world then and he's been humored ever since.
As a result, each year is deadlier for journalists in Iraq.
Friday, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) issued the following:
3 January 2014 – The head of the United Nations agency tasked with
defending press freedom, expressed alarm today at the recent killing of
six media workers in two separate incidents in Iraq and called for
measures to bring those responsible to justice.
The Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, has condemned the killing of Raad Yassin, Jamal Abdel Nasser, Mohamed Ahmad Al-Khatib, Wissam Al-Azzawi and Mohamed Abdel Hamid in an attack on Salaheddin TV in Tikrit, and of Omar Al-Dulaimy in the city of Ramadi.
“Once again I call on the authorities to do all they can to bring those responsible for these crimes to justice,” she said in a statement issued by the Paris-based agency, which adds: “The escalation of violence against the media in Iraq is intolerable as it poses a severe threat to national reconciliation and reconstruction.”
Omar Al-Dulaimy was killed on 31 December, while covering armed clashes in the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, where he worked as a correspondent for the Voice of Ramadi radio, a station broadcasting in Anbar province.
Five members of Salaheddin TV— chief news editor Raad Yassin, producer Jamal Abdel Nasser, cameraman Mohamed Ahmad Al-Khatib, presenter Wissam Al-Azzawi and archives manager Mohamed Abdel Hamid — were killed in a suicide attack on the headquarters of their television station in Tikrit on 23 December.
The Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, has condemned the killing of Raad Yassin, Jamal Abdel Nasser, Mohamed Ahmad Al-Khatib, Wissam Al-Azzawi and Mohamed Abdel Hamid in an attack on Salaheddin TV in Tikrit, and of Omar Al-Dulaimy in the city of Ramadi.
“Once again I call on the authorities to do all they can to bring those responsible for these crimes to justice,” she said in a statement issued by the Paris-based agency, which adds: “The escalation of violence against the media in Iraq is intolerable as it poses a severe threat to national reconciliation and reconstruction.”
Omar Al-Dulaimy was killed on 31 December, while covering armed clashes in the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, where he worked as a correspondent for the Voice of Ramadi radio, a station broadcasting in Anbar province.
Five members of Salaheddin TV— chief news editor Raad Yassin, producer Jamal Abdel Nasser, cameraman Mohamed Ahmad Al-Khatib, presenter Wissam Al-Azzawi and archives manager Mohamed Abdel Hamid — were killed in a suicide attack on the headquarters of their television station in Tikrit on 23 December.
From UNESCO, let's go to UNAMI's statement released today:
Baghdad, 8 January 2014 - The Special Representative of the
United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Nickolay Mladenov,
said that the UN is working closely with the Iraqi national and
regional authorities as well as with humanitarian partners to ensure
safe passage for humanitarian assistance and emergency supplies to both
the stranded and displaced families of Anbar province.
“There is a critical humanitarian situation in Anbar province which
is likely to worsen as operations continue. The UN agencies are working
to identify the needs of the population and prepare medical supplies,
food and non-food items for distribution if safe passage can be ensured.
This remains a primary challenge. The situation in Fallujah is
particularly concerning as existing stocks of food, water and
life-saving medicines begin to run out. According to our preliminary
assessment, over 5,000 families have fled the fighting and sought refuge
in the neighbouring provinces of Karbala, Salahadine, Baghdad and
elsewhere. The UN is working with the Ministry of Displacement and
Migration to identify their needs and meet them immediately," Mr.
Mladenov said.
Yeah.
Not a minor point.
People are dying and, just as in the two attacks on Anbar in 2004, the
western press wants to pretend like no one's being hurt except some 'bad
guys.' In November 2004, they lied and pretended everyone was out when
the US government attacked. No one lied harder than the New York
Times' Dexter Filkins who even won a little prize for his lies -- while
failing to share it with the US military censors who revamped and then
cleared his copy (explaining the 8 day delay for it to make it into the
paper -- the press moved faster in the days of the Pony Express).
People died.
People are dying now.
Anbar is a very populated province. It is thought to have 1.5 million people (Iraq's not had a census in decades).
Human Rights Watch realizes there are lives at risk. They issued a statement which opens:
Iraqi
government forces appear to have used indiscriminate mortar fire in
civilian neighborhoods in Anbar province, and al-Qaeda fighters and
armed men from local groups have deployed in and attacked from populated
areas. Apparently unlawful methods of fighting by all sides have caused
civilian casualties and severe property damage. A government blockade
of Fallujah and Ramadi has resulted in limited access to food, water,
and fuel for the population.
Based on numerous reports and accounts by local residents in interviews with Human Rights Watch, government security forces responded to attacks by al-Qaeda armed groups on the night of January 1, 2014, with mortar and gunfire into residential areas, in some cases with apparently no al-Qaeda presence. The security forces then surrounded the cities, witnesses said.
“The government urgently needs to deal with the threat from al-Qaeda, but killing their own citizens unlawfully is not the way,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Civilians have been caught in the middle in Anbar, and the government appears to be doing nothing to protect them.”
Based on numerous reports and accounts by local residents in interviews with Human Rights Watch, government security forces responded to attacks by al-Qaeda armed groups on the night of January 1, 2014, with mortar and gunfire into residential areas, in some cases with apparently no al-Qaeda presence. The security forces then surrounded the cities, witnesses said.
“The government urgently needs to deal with the threat from al-Qaeda, but killing their own citizens unlawfully is not the way,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Civilians have been caught in the middle in Anbar, and the government appears to be doing nothing to protect them.”
This is a tragedy for Anbar. It is a tragedy for the Iraqi people.
This is from the Human Rights Watch statement:
In Fallujah, the army closed the main eastern, northern, and southern
checkpoints, refusing to allow any people, medicine, or food to enter or
leave the city through these checkpoints. Fallujah residents said that
security forces allowed families with children to leave the city through
the two other checkpoints, but only with “extreme difficulty,” and, as
of January 8, have continued to refuse to allow single men to leave.
Army forces continue to surround Ramadi, but residents reported that
they were able to leave the city. On January 8, the Erbil governorate announced that 13,000 Anbari residents had fled into Erbil province.
Residents told Human Rights Watch that as of January 6, the army blockade and intermittent heavy fighting had prevented residents from getting sufficient food, water, electricity, and fuel. On January 3, the Iraqi Red Crescent reported that it sent convoys with food aid to both cities but could not enter because of heavy fighting. On January 5, Anbar’s provincial council described the humanitarian situation in Fallujah as “catastrophic.”
In a post on his Facebook page on January 8, a Ramadi resident, Omar al-Shaher, reported that al-Qaeda fighters had fought army forces that afternoon in the city’s Sharia 60 neighborhood. He said the army used drones to fire on the al-Hamiria bridge, which connects the neighborhood to desert areas outside the city. Al-Shaher said that Ramadi’s al-Malaab, Ziraha, Sharia 60, and Albu Jaber areas remained unstable and that residents feared that a “huge battle” was soon to come.
An employee in Fallujah’s main hospital reported that mortar fire from army shelling had killed 25 Fallujah residents and injured 190 since the fighting began on December 30, 2013, all resulting from the shrapnel, the employee said. The areas of the city the employee said the casualties came from are all areas where, according to residents, al-Qaeda was not present.
Residents told Human Rights Watch that as of January 6, the army blockade and intermittent heavy fighting had prevented residents from getting sufficient food, water, electricity, and fuel. On January 3, the Iraqi Red Crescent reported that it sent convoys with food aid to both cities but could not enter because of heavy fighting. On January 5, Anbar’s provincial council described the humanitarian situation in Fallujah as “catastrophic.”
In a post on his Facebook page on January 8, a Ramadi resident, Omar al-Shaher, reported that al-Qaeda fighters had fought army forces that afternoon in the city’s Sharia 60 neighborhood. He said the army used drones to fire on the al-Hamiria bridge, which connects the neighborhood to desert areas outside the city. Al-Shaher said that Ramadi’s al-Malaab, Ziraha, Sharia 60, and Albu Jaber areas remained unstable and that residents feared that a “huge battle” was soon to come.
An employee in Fallujah’s main hospital reported that mortar fire from army shelling had killed 25 Fallujah residents and injured 190 since the fighting began on December 30, 2013, all resulting from the shrapnel, the employee said. The areas of the city the employee said the casualties came from are all areas where, according to residents, al-Qaeda was not present.
US President Barack Obama's denied giving Nouri armed drones so where
did the armed drones come from? Or is the press going to ignore that
like they ignore so much?
'Analysts' ignore a lot as well. The Brookings Institution postss:
Noting that the Obama administration tried to keep forces in Iraq in
2011, an offer rejected by the Iraqi government, [Michael] O'Hanlon said that "I'd
be willing to see several hundred Americans or even a couple thousand
of special operations persuasions, of intelligence backgrounds, go and
help the Iraqis if the Iraqis can decide they want that help."
Would Michael be willing to see that? If he's an analyst, he should
probably first acknowledge that Special-Ops were sent back in during the
fall of 2012. September 2012, Tim Arango (New York Times) reported:
Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions. At the request of the Iraqi government, according to General Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence.
If you can't be honest maybe you should just not say anything?
Then again, maybe we have to be grateful for partial honesty?
Retired US Col Peter Mansoor (Defense One) gets it partly right when examining the roots for today's problems:
Despite this promising beginning, the situation in Iraq began to spiral
downward after the election of 2010 when the winner, Ayad Allawi, was
sidelined in favor of another Maliki term in a backroom deal cut in
Tehran. Sunni Arabs became disenchanted with the political process,
increasingly dominated by an authoritarian prime minister who used the
security forces and courts to pursue his political agenda. The
withdrawal of the last U.S. combat forces from Iraq in 2011 gave Maliki a
green light to further these policies; his pursuit of Tarik al-Hashemi
and other Sunni politicians deepened Sunni discontent. The way was open
for the revitalization of al-Qaeda in Iraq, once left for dead after the
manifest successes of the Awakening and the surge.
Iran can be credited. They strong armed cleric and movement leader
Moqtada al-Sadr to drop his opposition to Nouri. But that's not how
Nouri got his second term. There was still the problem of the votes and
the will of the Iraqi people and a little thing called the
Constitution. Barack had US officials broker the extra-constitutional
Erbil Agreement which went around all of that to provide Nouri a second
term. Mansoor's told half the truth and it's a sign of just how many
lies are out there that I feel like shouting "THANK YOU!" to him at the
top of my lungs.
Especially when the alternative appears to be Jamie
Tarabay and Al Jazeera, "While Maliki is facing a challenge from
Al-Qaeda, he is also accused of running a sectarian Shia-dominated
regime that has alienated much of Iraq’s Sunni population." Is he, is he accused of that?
He's targeted one Sunni politician after another. But he's just accused
of it? He refused to the power-sharing agreement outlined in The Erbil
Agreement but he's just accused of running a sectarian Shia-dominated
regime?
Wow, thank goodness for the bravery of Al Jazeera America. Next up,
they're expose on tooth pastes that promise more than they deliver.
David Welna (All Things Considered, NPR) plays stupid as well, "At the White House earlier this week, spokesman Jay Carney wondered
aloud just what the president's critics might want, beyond the Hellfire
missiles and surveillance drones that are being sent to Iraq."
If you don't know what happened then maybe stop flapping your gums. Had
the White House not backed Nouri for a second term and sided with Iraqi
voters, Ahmed Chalabi would be in charge.
Is he a nicer person that Nouri?
I don't know.
I don't know.
But the US government consensus was he'd be a better and more inclusive
ruler. The Iraqi people spoke in the election of 2010 and spoke for a
united Iraq which is why they chose a Shi'ite leader (Allawi) of a mixed
political party (Shi'ite and Sunni).
Sunni voters alone could not have allowed Iraqiya to beat State of Law.
It was Sunnis and Shias working together for the future of Iraq. That
was a powerful moment, it had been building in the 2009 elections. The
US could have backed up that powerful future. Instead Barack spat on
democracy and let a despot have a second term the people didn't give
him.
And the results aren't surprising. Barack saw the same CIA personality
disorder analysis on Nouri that Bully Boy Bush saw. These were the
liabilities outlined if Nouri's paranoia and narcissism weren't
'managed.'
And Barack not only gave him a second term, he's armed him while Nouri's
attacked Iraqis. Nouri's over the Ministry of the Interior (in a power
grab, he refused to nominate anyone to head the Ministry) and that's
who targeted the gay and emo youth, went around to schools encouraging
kids to kill them, said that they sucked blood and were vampires -- Now,
of course, the Ministry denied it. And that might have been end of
story but both Alsumaria and Al Mada had copies of the official handout
from the Ministry that was given to students on each of these 'teachable
moments.' That's only one example.
Nouri's a thug. And Barack keeps arming him. Josh Rogin (Daily Beast) reports:
As Iraqi army forces prepare to mount an offensive to take back control of the city of Fallujah from
al Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), the Obama
administration is in a full court press to urge Congress to allow the
sale of dozens of Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters the Maliki government
has been seeking for years. Both the House Foreign Relations Committee
and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had been holding up the sales,
out of concern Maliki will use them against his domestic political
enemies. Senators in both parties also lament Maliki’s increasingly
sectarian style of governing and his alleged cooperation with Iran to
aid the Syrian regime.
The Daily Beast has learned that the House Foreign Affairs Committee has now dropped its hold on the Apache sales but one senior senator still refuses to allow it to go through – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ). Congressional aides said Tuesday that Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns has been lobbying Menendez to release his hold on the sales and Burns has also been reaching out to other senators who have problems with Maliki.
The Daily Beast has learned that the House Foreign Affairs Committee has now dropped its hold on the Apache sales but one senior senator still refuses to allow it to go through – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ). Congressional aides said Tuesday that Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns has been lobbying Menendez to release his hold on the sales and Burns has also been reaching out to other senators who have problems with Maliki.
I'm not calling Rogin a liar but if the House Foreign Affairs Committee
has dropped their hold without making any conditions for Nouri to turn
over the seven Ashraf hostages? I think a number of people may not be
serving on that Committee after the 2014 elections.
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