The Daily Jot: THIS JUST IN! WHITE HOUSE DOWN! WITH OPP!

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

THIS JUST IN! WHITE HOUSE DOWN! WITH OPP!

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

FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O IS SETTING THE INTERNET ABUZZ WITH RUMORS THAT HE SLEPT WITH CAROLINE KENNEDY AND BEYONCE AND NOW THERE'S DIVORCE TALK.

REACHED FOR COMMENT, WHITE HOUSE PLUS-SIZE SPOKESMODEL JAY CARNEY EXPLAINED, "LOOK, NOBODY DOES A BLOW JOB LIKE THE O BUT AMERICA IS NOT READY TO FACE THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE A GAY PRESIDENT SO EVERY NOW AND THEN WE GET SOME RUMORS STARTED THAT THE PRESIDENT IS HAVING AN AFFAIR. IT GIVES THE APPEARANCE OF A STRAIGHT SEXUAL AFFAIR AND A STRAIGHT PRESIDENT AND, LET'S BE HONEST, NO ONE BELIEVES THE PRESIDENT IS IN A HAPPY MARRIAGE."

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Chris Carroll (Stars and Stripes) reports today on changes the Pentagon is making with regards to imminent danger pay and notes, "Imminent danger pay and current R & R programs remain unaffected in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen."

US service members in Iraq still get danger pay. And should. Thing is, few Americans seem aware that US troops are still in Iraq.

Even fewer may be aware of this meet-up.

That photo of yesterday's meet up went up on Nouri's website.

As the article at Nouri's site notes, Nouri met with US Ambassador Robert S. Beecroft and with US Gen Lloyd Austin. It was news but we noted it Sunday night -- and were the only English language website to do so -- it was even in the Iraqi press. It's now Monday and there are still no reports on it in the Western press.

Why is it news that Austin went to Iraq?

Saturday, David Swanson (War Is A Crime) mentioned, "The White House is trying to keep the occupation of Afghanistan going for TEN MORE YEARS ("and beyond"), and articles have been popping up this week about sending U.S. troops back into Iraq."

Let's drop back to last Thursday's snapshot:

Gordon Lubold has long covered the Iraq War -- including for the Christian Science Monitor. He has a post with disturbing news at Foreign Policy -- on the discussions of sending (more) US troops into Iraq:

But the nature of the fight the Maliki government confronts in western Iraq is such that officials say Baghdad is looking not only for better reconnaissance and surveillance capability, but also for more robust, lethal platforms. Iraq has been unwilling to accept American military personnel in the country in any operational form, but the willingness to revisit that policy appears now to be shifting. A spokesman for the Iraqi Embassy declined to comment on the issue of allowing American military personnel into the country to conduct drone operations, but acknowledged that the U.S. and Iraq share a "common enemy" in al Qaeda.

"Iraq's view is that all available tools must be utilized to defeat this threat, and we welcome America's help in enhancing the capabilities we are able to bring to bear," the spokesman said.

You need to put that with other news because Lubold isn't smart enough to. There's the fact that all US troops never left Iraq. There's the fact that Barack sent a brigade of Special-Ops in during the fall of 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." And let's include the news from the April 25th snapshot:

Mark Hosenball, Warren Strobel, Phil Stewart, Ned Parker, Jason Szep and Ross Colvin (Reuters) report, "The United States is quietly expanding the number of intelligence officers in Iraq and holding urgent meetings in Washington and Baghdad to find ways to counter growing violence by Islamic militants, U.S. government sources said." It was 1961 when US President John F. Kennedy sent 1364 "advisors" into Vietnam. The next year, the number was just short of 10,000. In 1963, the number hit 15,500. You remember how this ends, right?

Last week, Dar Addustour reported that US Gen Lloyd Austin was expected to visit Iraq and meet with Nouri to discuss weapons and US forces. That's what the meet-up was about.

And we all need to be aware (a) of the meet-up and (b) of the press doing their part to conceal that the meet-up took place. Austin is not only the current commander of CENTCOM, he was also the top US commander in Iraq up until the drawdown of December 2011.

As the US cozies up to Nouri, Amnesty International's just issued Torture in 2014: 30 Years of Broken Promises notes, "Torture and other ill-treatment have also blighted the records of countries emerging from conflict. In Iraq, the phenomenon remains widespread in prisons and detention centers. More than 30 people are believed to have died in custody as a result of such treatment between 2010 and 2012."

Nouri and his War Crimes, Aswat al-Iraq notes, "Renowned Sunni Sheikh Abdul Malik al-Saadi" on Saturday called out the attacks on Falluja, referring to them as "the greatest proof of sectarian genocide." Genocide is the term for it, genocide and War Crimes.

Chief Thug and Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki is committing War Crimes. He's using the weapons provided to him by the US government to target civilians in Falluja. They are being punished because he says there are terrorists in the city. There are Iraqis in the city. By going along with the lie that they're 'terrorists,' the US government is choosing sides in a civil war. So today, the continued shelling of Falluja's residential neighborhood ("collective punishment" is the term for this legally defined War Crime) has killed 2 civilians and left eleven more injured. Every day the civilian death toll climbs -- Iraqi civilians killed by the Iraqi military on the orders of Nouri al-Maliki.

But here's the thing about War Crimes, no Iraqi soldier can fall back on the excuse that they were 'just' following orders. That assertion was rejected in Nuremberg.

Over the weekend, Al Jazeera's reported:

Shelling by the Iraqi army in the city of Fallujah has killed more civilians, hospital sources and witnesses have said, amid allegations that government forces were using barrel bombs in an attempt to drive out anti-government fighters from the area,
The use of barrel bombs in civilian areas is banned under international conventions given their indiscriminate nature.
But Mohammed al-Jumaili, a local journalist, told Al Jazeera that the army has dropped many barrel bombs "targeting mosques, houses and markets" in Fallujah.

This is the government Barack Obama has backed. And this is what has resulted from it. Saturday, UNAMI issued the following:

Baghdad, 11 May 2014 – The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Nickolay Mladenov remains concerned at reports of increased armed activities in Fallujah and particularly its effects on civilians.

“The people of Anbar have suffered from terrorism and violence for too long. All efforts must be made to ensure that fighting ends, people return to their homes, and reconstruction can begin. It is vital that those affected by the fighting are able to receive humanitarian support”, Mr. Mladenov said.
“As the Iraqi Security Forces continue their efforts to restore law and order in Anbar, they should ensure that the fight against terrorism is conducted in accordance with Iraq’s international and constitutional human rights obligations”, he added.
“I am particularly concerned about the impact of violence on civilians and the deteriorating conditions in Fallujah. The UN humanitarian team will continue working with the Government and local authorities to ensure that, despite the difficulties, aid reaches those in need. Continued fighting, including shelling, often hampers the delivery of badly needed emergency aid”, the SRSG added.
Since the outbreak of violence, the United Nations delivered a total of 15,186 food parcels, blankets, and tents; 37,943 Water and Sanitation Supplies (WASH) and hygiene kits that have reached a total of 233,958 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) affected by fights in Anbar and floods in Abu Ghraib.
During the past week:
UNICEF reached 3,000 families with the distribution of hygiene and household kits in Rawa, Anah, Haditha and Sitak in Anbar. Another 1,500 affected families were reached with hygiene kits in Abu-Ghraib (Baghdad) and 5,000 more hygiene kits were distributed in Samarra and Jazeera (Salah-al-Din). UNICEF also distributed 81 water tanks, installed 6 water storage tanks (of 250,000 litres capacity each) in Rutba, Al-Qaim, Heet, Khalidiayh, Obaidi and Amiryat al-Fallujah, (benefiting 15,360 individuals), and two water storage tanks (of 10,000 litres capacity each) in Samarra. UNICEF also continued with the water truck delivery of 300,000 litres per week in Rutba, Heet and Al-Qaim (benefiting 15,126 individuals).
UNHCR continued with the distribution of Core Relief Item (CRIs) kits including 175 tents in Amiriyat al-Fallujah and Al-Habaniya areas, as well as in Mansour area in Baghdad, bringing its total distributed Core Relief Item kits to date to 6,519. UNHCR is also planning to assist 400 displaced families from Abu-Ghraib with cash money.
IOM distributed to date a total of 7,507 Non-Food Items to Anbar population and delivered on behalf of WFP 930 new food parcels to Saqlawiya, Heet, Amiriyat al-Fallujah, Al-Madina al-Siyahiya, Al-Karma, Al-Habaniya, Al-N'emiyeh, Al-Qaim, Ramadi and Abu-Ghraib, bringing the total number of food parcels distributed to date in Anbar to 15,186.
WHO in coordination with the Ministry of Heath delivered 2 Inter-Agency Emergency Health Kits (each kit can meet the needs of 10,000 persons) and 1 Trauma Kit (sufficient to carry out 100 major surgeries) to Abu-Ghraib flood victims as well as 3 Emergency Kits of medical and surgical supplies to hospitals in Ramadi and Fallujah, as well as additional medical supplies to Al-Qaim

Of the crisis, Abdul Rahman al-Rashed (Asharq Al-Awsat) notes, "No one will win in this war, which may go on as long as the government in Baghdad believes it can solve the crisis through force of arms."

Among Sunni Arab blocs, campaign rhetoric reflected extreme polarisation. Speaker Osama Al Nujayfi's Mutahidun, the largest Sunni bloc, described Mr Al Maliki's counterinsurgency campaign as an all-out war against Sunni Arabs, warning that Mr Al Maliki's reelection would result in "genocide" against Sunnis.

That's from Kirk Sowell's "With results due, Iraq anticipates a post-election fight" (The National) where he offers his take on the recent elections which also include:

"She cares because?"
"THIS JUST IN! IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU!"

The Daily Jot

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

THIS JUST IN! WHITE HOUSE DOWN! WITH OPP!

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