BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
AT THE WHITE HOUSE TODAY, THE DAHLI BAMA MET HIS EXCELLENCE THE DAHLI LAMA.
THE LAMA IS A RELIGIOUS FIGURE WHO REPRESENTS, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THE HOPES AND DREAMS OF TIBET.
THE LAMA IS A FADED POPULAR CULTURE FIGURE WHO REPRESENTS INEPTITUDE, LAW BREAKING AND THE FAILED HOPES AND DREAMS OF THE UNITED STATES.
THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT, WHICH INVADED TIBET AND TOOK IT OVER IN 1950, WAS QUICK TO SLAM THE DAHLI BAMA FOR THE MEET-UP.
ONE PRO-CHINESE GOVERNMENT EDITORIAL CALLED DAHLI BAMA BARRY O'S ACTIONS "ANOTHER WORLD-CLASS SHOW OF PLAYING DUMB."
REACHED FOR COMMENT THIS AFTERNOON BY THESE REPORTERS, BARRY O SNARLED, "I DON'T PLAY!"
HE ALSO ADDED, "I HAVE BEEN VERY CONCERNED ABOUT THIS ISSUE WHEN I FIRST LEARNED OF IT ON THE SIMPSONS AS HOMER SHOUTED 'FREE TIBET!' AT AN AWARDS SHOW."
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Before the month ends, I'm going to try to work in a few of the hearings
we attended this month there hasn't been room for. That includes the
February 11th House Armed Services Committee. The witnesses were the
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Anne Patterson,
the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
Elissa Slotkin and Vice Admiral Frank Pandolfe, the Director for
Strategic Plans and Policy (J-5), Joint Staff.
This hearing was appalling. Reflecting on it in the weeks since, the
strong words I wrote in the margins of my notes -- all 'four' letter
type words, regardless of the actual letter count -- still seem
appropriate.
We got the message from the US government, for example, that women don't
matter in the Middle East, don't matter to the US government. We got
the lying on everything. As usual the US government says, for example,
"the Iraqis" when they don't mean the people, they just mean the
(US-installed) leader.
We got just how hypocritical they are and, as I wrote at one point, "And
that's why I won't be supporting Joe Biden if he runs in 2016." And I
won't. I'm sorry, I love Joe, but the US government loathes the Iraqi
people so Joe's not getting my support. Well get to it.
First, let's not the laughable opening remarks of Anne Patterson and wonder if she believes her own lies?
Anne Patterson: Iraq has, regrettably,
been
experiencing
escalating levels of violence. The two-way flow of Sunni extremists
between Syria and Iraq has had a direct bearing on
high-profile attacks in Iraq. In 2011 and 2012, about 4,400 Iraqis
civilians and
members of the security forces
were killed each year
-- many in
attacks led by
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,
formerly known as al Qaeda in Iraq
.
Last year, ISIL began shifting resources from Syria to Iraq in search of
new
opportunities consistent with their broader ambitions. By the summer of
2013, the
number of suicide attacks in Iraq had climbed from an average of 5 to 10
per month
to approximately 30 to 40 per month. These attacks were calculated,
coordinated and
unfortunately, increasingly effective and were directed not only at Shia
civilian
targets but also Sunni and Kurdish targets.
On January 1st, ISIL launched its most
brazen attack yet, and occupied
portions
of the
Anbar cities of Ramadi and
Fallujah. The Iraqi government, working together with local leaders in
Anbar and
with important U.S. support has pushed back;
Ramadi now
faces isolated pockets
of resistance from anti-government fighters
, and the government
hopes
to clear
4
terrorists from Fallujah
predominately by using local tribal forces
.
But this
violence has had a devastating effect on the people of Iraq. The United
Nations
reports at least
8,800 civilians and members
of the security forces were killed in
violent attacks across Iraq in 2013.
The need for political leaders to overcome
mistrust and reach compromises on essential political reforms is urgent.
We continue to press upon Iraq’s government the
importance
of working with local
Sunni leaders to draw the nation together in the fight against ISIL. The
United
States will continue to support the people of Iraq and their government
to secure
the city of Fallujah.
We also continue to work closely with Iraq's leaders to help them build a
longterm political, economic and security strategy and to support
the
national election
scheduled for
April 30, 2014. I would like to thank the Congress for its support for
the much needed military equipment we have been able to provide to Iraq.
To
combat the very real extremist threats, Iraq needs a professional and
well equipped
army that can provide the capability for the government to engage
extremist groups
proactively
long before they enter the cities.
As any honest observer of Iraq well knows, not all the violence -- not
even half the violence -- of last year was done by 'al Qaeda'; however,
all the violence is attributable to the thug Nouri al-Maliki who took a
process that was supposed to bring all the blocs together in a
power-sharing government but instead found Nouri practicing one power
grab after another while using the tools his office possesses or that
he's assumed to destroy rivals.
He has lied and he has attacked. In that regard, he was well trained by his US masters.
But this is why Iraq is where it is right now.
In 2010, the White House demanded a second term for Nouri despite Nouri
losing those elections. The White House used the Kurds to front this
agreement, the legal contract known as The Erbil Agreeement. Both Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani and Kurdistan Regional Government Massoud
Barzani stood behind the agreement because they believed the White House
that this contract was not only going to be legal but it would be
enforced because it had the full backing of the US President.
So the Kurds went about selling it to the other political blocs and
convincing them this was a genuine agreement and one the US government
would ensure was enforced.
The contract gave Nouri a second term in exchange for various demands
(such as his implementing Article 140 of the Constitution, putting Ayad
Allawi in charge of an independent national security body, etc.) and
Nouri used The Erbil Agreement to get that second term and then he wiped
his ass with it and refused to honor it.
And the Kurds and others waited for the White House. In November of
2010, Allawi walked out of the Parliament in its first session and only
returned that day after Barack Obama asked him to do so over the phone
and swore to him -- swore to him -- that The Erbil Agreement would be
honored. (Nouri was already, in that first session of Parliament,
declaring that he would have to wait to implement The Erbil Agreement,
that's why Allawi walked out.)
The Kurds and the others waited and waited.
And neither Nouri nor the US government honored the agreement. By the
summer of 2011, the Kurds, Allawi's Iraqiya and Moqtada al-Sadr joined
in public calls for Nouri to implement The Erbil Agreement.
The deceit and backstabbing of the White House didn't end there.
As Nouri refused to honor the contract, Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the
Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, joined Moqtada, the Kurds and Allawi in
exploring a no-confidence vote on Nouri. They did what the Iraqi
Constitution told them to. And they got the signatures needed to call
for the vote in Parliament.
What did the White House do?
Pressured Jalal Talabani (it never takes much pressure, he's always had a
collapsible spine) and Jalal folded like a cheap suit. He refused
allow the vote to take place. He made up excuses and lies and then
insisted he had to leave the country because chicken ass could do what
the US government told him to do but couldn't hang around for the fall
out.
The betrayal has been intense.
Grasp what took place in 2010, the voters unseated Nouri. But Barack
wouldn't allow that to happen. And that's why Barack's hands are just as
bloody as Nouri al-Maliki's are. He ensured the tyrant stayed in power
and he refused to demand that the power-sharing contract (one he
ordered negotiated) be honored.
When a people have voted out a violent dictator but he stays in office?
When their other political leaders go through legal procedures to
remove him from office but the Constitutional measure are not honored?
When the people take to the streets to protest and they're ignored?
What the hell is left but violence?
If you need something more than my take, in August the International Crisis Group issued "Make or Break: Iraq’s Sunnis and the State" and this was their take on Hawija:
As events in Syria nurtured their hopes for a political comeback,
Sunni Arabs launched an unprecedented, peaceful protest movement in late
2012 in response to the arrest of bodyguards of Rafea al-Issawi, a
prominent Iraqiya member. It too failed to provide answers to
accumulated grievances. Instead, the demonstrations and the repression
to which they gave rise further exacerbated the sense of exclusion and
persecution among Sunnis.
The government initially chose a lacklustre, technical response,
forming committees to unilaterally address protesters’ demands, shunning
direct negotiations and tightening security measures in Sunni-populated
areas. Half-hearted, belated concessions exacerbated distrust and
empowered more radical factions. After a four-month stalemate, the
crisis escalated. On 23 April, government forces raided a protest camp
in the city of Hawija, in Kirkuk province, killing over 50 and injuring
110. This sparked a wave of violence exceeding anything witnessed for
five years. Attacks against security forces and, more ominously,
civilians have revived fears of a return to all-out civil strife. The
Islamic State of Iraq, al-Qaeda’s local expression, is resurgent. Shiite
militias have responded against Sunnis. The government’s seeming intent
to address a chiefly political issue – Sunni Arab representation in
Baghdad – through tougher security measures has every chance of
worsening the situation.
Belittled, demonised and increasingly subject to a central government
crackdown, the popular movement is slowly mutating into an armed
struggle. In this respect, the absence of a unified Sunni leadership –
to which Baghdad’s policies contributed and which Maliki might have
perceived as an asset – has turned out to be a serious liability. In a
showdown that is acquiring increasing sectarian undertones, the
movement’s proponents look westward to Syria as the arena in which the
fight against the Iraqi government and its Shiite allies will play out
and eastward toward Iran as the source of all their ills.
Under intensifying pressure from government forces and with dwindling
faith in a political solution, many Sunni Arabs have concluded their
only realistic option is a violent conflict increasingly framed in
confessional terms. In turn, the government conveniently dismisses all
opposition as a sectarian insurgency that warrants ever more stringent
security measures. In the absence of a dramatic shift in approach,
Iraq’s fragile polity risks breaking down, a victim of the combustible
mix of its longstanding flaws and growing regional tensions.
Why is it that US officials never want to talk reality? Because doing so would mean taking accountability.
Need another source? Here's Anthony H. Cordesman and Sam Khazi (CSIS) from two days ago:
Iraq’s main threats, however, are self-inflicted wounds caused by
its political leaders. The 2010 Iraqi elections and the ensuing
political crisis divided the nation. Rather than create any form of
stable democracy, the fallout pushed Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki to
consolidate power and become steadily more authoritarian. Other Shi’ite
leaders contributed to Iraq’s increasing sectarian and ethnic
polarization – as did key Sunni and Kurdish leaders.
Since that time, a brutal power struggle has taken place between
Maliki and senior Sunni leaders, and ethnic tensions have grown between
the Arab dominated central government and senior Kurdish leaders in
the Kurdish Regional government (KRG). The actions of Iraq’s top
political leaders have led to a steady rise in Sunni and Shi’ite
violence accelerated by the spillover of the extremism caused by the
Syrian civil war. This has led to a level of Shi’ite and Sunni violence
that now threatens to explode into a level of civil conflict equal to –
or higher than – the one that existed during the worst period of the
U.S. occupation.
This struggle has been fueled by actions of the Iraqi government
that many reliable sources indicate have included broad national abuses
of human rights and the misuse of Iraqi forces and the Iraqi security
services in ways where the resulting repression and discrimination has
empowered al-Qaeda and other extremist groups. As a result, the very
forces that should help bring security and stability have become part
of the threat further destabilized Iraq.
Their votes were rendered meaningless by US President Barack Obama,
their Constitution was rendered meaningless by US President Barack
Obama.
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