BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
WILL SHE BE ADMIRED FOR STAYING AWAY FROM THE FRAY OR WILL SHE BE CRUCIFIED?
F.O.L. MICHELLE IS, THUS FAR, AVOIDING THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. THAT MIGHT BE A SMART MOVE FOR HER, SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE F.O.L. OF THE ENTIRE U.S., NOT JUST ONE PARTY.
BUT SOME CRITICS -- SCARED OF LOSSES -- ARE CARPING.
REACHED FOR COMMENT. JEFF DISANTIS, MICHELLE NUNN'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER, WHINED, "WHY WON'T WHITE HOUSE MICHELLE CAMPAIGN FOR MY MICHELLE! THEY'RE BOTH MICHELLES! CAN'T A MICHELLE HELP A MICHELLE OUT!!!!"
At the US State Dept this morning, Secretary of State John Kerry pompously declared, "What is unfolding in Ukraine has already gone on for far too long. It’s well past time for the violence to stop and for the people of Ukraine to begin the process of rebuilding their country and rebuilding it in a way that can have a relationship with Russia, with the West."
What's going on in Ukraine "has already gone on for far too long"?
What about Iraq?
John Kerry does grasp that in the October 2011, the US mission in Iraq was handed off from the Defense Dept to the State Dept, right?
Of course he does.
He was the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when that happened. As such, he and his committee provided direct oversight -- or were supposed to -- of the State Dept.
He is fully aware that the State Dept, since 2011, has received billions of US tax dollars to spend in Iraq.
So if he wants to stomp his feet on Ukraine or on Syria or whatever catches his cat's fancy for this or that 30-second period, when exactly does John plan to focus on Iraq.
Again, the US mission in Iraq is under the State Dept. That hand off took place nearly three years ago and while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State at that time, as Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair, John Kerry was following what was happening.
And he should be following how the department he heads moves further and further away from a diplomatic mission in Iraq. Dan Lamothe (Washington Post) reports on the continued decay of the US State Dept:
The State Department has approved the possible sale of 5,000 AGM-114K/N/R missiles and related parts and training, Pentagon officials said. The estimated cost of the deal would be about $700 million, and dwarf previous shipments of Hellfire missiles to Iraq.
Diplomacy is apparently dead -- as is compliance with the law and common sense.
The law prohibits the US government from supplying weapons to any government that terrorizes their own people.
How do Hellfire missiles help the Iraqi people?
They don't.
National Iraqi News Agency reports:
A source at Fallujah General Hospital said on Tuesday that the number of martyrs among civilians since the outbreak of the crisis by more than 7 months reached 672 martyrs, 17 percent of them are children and 19 percent of them women, while the total number of wounded civilians, 2174 wounded, 19 percent children and 21 percent women..
The source told the National Iraqi News Agency / NINA / that This is not the final outcome, noting that there were martyrs were buried without going back to the hospital, and wounded were treated at health centers close to their places.
And Barack's answer is more weapons to Nouri?
So that Nouri can kill more civilians?
Falluja is just one city. Also being bombed of late is Jurf al-Sakhar. Ali A. Nabhan and Nour Malas (Wall St. Journal) report:
The airstrikes on Monday reflected that policy. It is not clear how many among the dead were militants, but local media reported at least one child was killed. Human rights groups have begun to criticize the Iraqi government for bombing civilian areas in its campaign against insurgents.
Human Rights Watch last week said it documented at least 75 civilians killed and hundreds wounded in government airstrikes—at times using the crude improvised explosives known as barrel bombs—on the cities of Fallujah, Beiji, Mosul, and Tikrit since June 6.
So the law -- including the Leahy Amendment -- is being violated by the White House.
Common sense?
Dropping back to the July 23rd snapshot for this from that day's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing:
US House Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: Last month, Secretary [of State John] Kerry said nobody expected ISIL to capture Mosul. Even if our foreign military assistance had not quite kicked in yet, shouldn't our information and intelligence gathering efforts have been able to get a better assessment, a more accurate assessment, of Samarra and Mosul? And it has been widely reported that while taking control of Mosul, ISIL seized rather large quantities of US supplied foreign military assistance and made off with nearly half a billion dollars from the local banks -- in addition to tanks and humvees that were taken. US officials were quick to deny the claims of ISIL-- that they captured advance weaponry such as Black Hawk helicopters. Did they capture any caravan aircraft with advanced weapon platforms? And did they take any other advanced weaponry like MPADS [Man-portable air-defense systems]? US military equipment and hundreds of millions of dollars aren't the only items that ISIL has seized. The Iraqi government confirmed that ISIL took uranium from Mosul University. What is the status of that uranium? What could ISIL use that for?
Common sense dictates that when you're losing uranium, weapons, millions of dollars, you're really not the person to supply with more weapons.
But there's not much common sense in the US government.
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