The Daily Jot

Friday, January 04, 2013

THIS JUST IN! UNCLE CRACKER SAY WHAT?

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

POOR CRAZY RON BRYNAERT, WHO KNEW HE COULD PICK UP WIFI UNDER WHATEVER BRIDGE HE'S SET UP CAMP CURRENTLY?

THE ONE TIME RAW STORY EMPLOYEE GOT FIRED AND IT'S BEEN NOTHING BUT 'YOU GO GIRL!' WHISPERS AND ATTACKS AND CONSPIRACY TALK EVER SINCE.

REMEMBER THE CONGRESSMAN WHO TWEETED THE PHOTO OF HIS OWN COCK AND THEN RESIGNED? NOT SO SWEARS CONSPIRACY RONNIE! SOMEONE ELSE TWEETED IT!

THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY THE CONGRESSMAN WOULD RESIGN BUT FACTS AND LOGIC WERE LEFT BEHIND LONG AGO BY LITTLE RONNIE WHO TRASHED SOMEONE IN A TWEET FALSELY AND WHEN CONFRONTED WHINED HE NEEDED ATTENTION AND HE KNEW IT WAS FALSE AT THE TIME BUT HE NEEDED ATTENTION.

MOST RECENTLY WHITE RONNIE HAS TAKEN TO LECTURING THE COUNTRY ABOUT WHAT IS AND WHAT IS NOT RACISM. NOW USING THE N-WORD IS CONSIDERED TO BE RACIST IF YOU'RE WHITE. BUT NOT IF YOU'RE RONNIE.

APPARENTLY RON BRYNAERT IS THE ONE WHO HANDS OUT THE PASSES TO WHITE PEOPLE. REMEMBER, DON'T BLAME JOHN MAYER, BLAME RONNIE.

RONNIE FELT THE NEED TO USE HIS LITTLE BRAIN TO DEFEND QUENTIN TARANTINO AGAINST CHARGES OF RACISM AND HE BRAGGED ABOUT ALL QUENTIN HAD DONE FOR 'THE BLACKS.' BUT WHEN STAN POINTED OUT THE REALITY, WHEN STAN CRUNCHED THE NUMBERS AND FOUND THAT LESS THAN 18% OF THE LEAD ROLES IN TARANTINO'S FILMS WERE AFRICAN-AMERICAN, TRASHY RON COULDN'T STAND IT.

WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBVIOUS TO ANYONE WHO WASN'T A RACIST WAS NOW OBVIOUS TO EVEN RON. SO DOES RON APOLOGIZE?

HELL TO THE NAH! WHITE MAN ATTACK!

ALL WE CAN SAY IS, WE PITY YOU, RON. YOU'RE SO UGLY YOU LOOK INBRED.

BUT MOST IMPORTANT, WE'D NEVER BE STUPID ENOUGH TO ATTACK MARCIA'S COUSIN. OH, RON, LIFE IS ABOUT TO GET INTERESTING FOR YOU.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

A major bombing in Iraq today has again underscored how there is no peace or end of war for the country the US invaded in 2003 and now controls via the puppet Nouri al-Maliki who was first installed in 2006. Today was the culmination of the Arbaeen rituals which AFP estimated resulted in 15 million pilgrims going to Karbala over the last tend days. They explain, "Arbaeen marks 40 days after the Ashura anniversary commemorating the slaying of Imam Hussein, one of Shiite Islam's most revered figures, by the armies of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD. Sad songs blared from loudspeakers throughout the city and black flags fluttered alongside pictures of Hussein and his half-brother Imam Abbas, both of whom are buried in the city." A pilgrim from Basra explained how long it had taken him to get to Karbala on foot and how he was taking part to defy terrorism. That was before the bomb struck. CNN reports it was a car bomb in nearby Musayyib. Mu Xuequan (Xinhua) adds, "A police source in Babil province told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the blast took place at a car park when pilgrims returned from the Shiite holy city of Karbala in southern Iraq." BBC News cites a police source for their news that "the bomb went off close to a bus stop where coaches that carry pilgrims from Karbala to other Iraqi cities drop and collect them." Reuters quotes eye witness Ali Sabbar, "I was getting a sandwich when a very strong explosion rocked the place and the blast threw me away. When i regained my senses and stood up, I saw dozens of bodies. Many cars were set on fire. I just left the place and didn't even participate in the evacuation of the victims." NBC News Wire Services quotes teacher Ibrahim Mohammed stating, "The explosion shook the whole block and smashed the windows of my house. I ran to the scene of the explosion only to find charred bodies and burning cars. There were women screaming and searching for their missing children."

Michael Peel and Abeer Allam (Financial Times of London) count 27 dead. Reuters notes at least sixty people were injured. KUNA points out, "Over the past few days, Iraqi authorities have carried out tight security measures in the areas, including air surveillance." Deutsche Welle points out that today's "violence hit despite" those security measures. Omar Al Saleh (Al Jazeera) observes, "We understand that security is very tight, and it's obvious that this is a breach of security, this is a setback for the security of this country."

Let's move from real violence to pretense and also to money -- the US taxpayer money.

First up, Victoria Nuland. We've covered Icky Vicky repeatedly. For those late to the party, she was the Deputy National Security Advisor to Dick Cheney during Bully Boy Bush's first term which allowed her to take Dick's plans for world domination and help make them happen. She is not a neocon just because she worked for Dick Cheney on 'national security.' She is also a neocon because she married into the Kagan family which is the neocon family.

In the 60s, the US government's war on Vietnam allowed some Communists in the US to take stands on peace and on fairness. It allowed other Communists to go running for a Daddy to comfort them from their night terrors. Donald Kagan is one of those former lefties who ended up a conservative -- although this transformation was also said to be in part as a result of Cornell creating a Black Studies program. He is one of the leading lights (or dimmest bulbs) in what is the neoconservative movement. With the Project for the New American Century in 1997, they began publicly calling for war on Iraq. Donald Kagan is Victoria's father-in-law. She's married to Robert Kagan (who is a neocon -- and probably their strongest theorist -- but he rejects the label). Her brother-in-law is Fred Kagan and her sister-in-law is Kimberly Kagan. Donald, Fred and Robert all signed the Project for the New American Century screed entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses." Fred has a wide ranging background with a variety of fields and expertises. Most recently, as Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Washington Post) exposed, it was learned that he and Kimbergly Kagan were advising then Gen David Petraeus while he was heading up the US mission in Afghanistan. Kimberly Kagan is seen as the most personable of the Kagans. She married Fred and is liked by the press because she's seen as less intense as the others (including Nuland). She's in charge of the Institute for the Study of War. Victoria and her family all wanted war on Iraq.

Somehow it was decided, after Barack Obama was elected president based on his pretense of being against the Iraq War, that Victoria Nuland was the perfect face for the State Dept -- begging the question of had anyone seen that face?

At the State Dept, Victoria Nuland usually handles the daily press briefing which allows her to ignore Iraq. Yesterday was one of those rare times she bothered to mention Iraq.

QUESTION: On Iraq, what do you make of the protest in Iraq? I mean, obviously, there are more – they're now in Anbar, in Mosul, and they're even – they've moved to the – blocking the highway that connects Iraq into Syria and Jordan, the international highway, and they're protesting against the – Maliki's regime, their government, they're against what they call sectarian practices, arresting women and torturing them. That's – these are their claims. What do you make of these protests?

MS. NULAND: Well, first, let me just make the general statement that we always make, which is that we support the right of peaceful protest around the world. That said, we have been concerned by violence by parties during these protests, and we call on all those involved to exercise restraint, to respect that right of peaceful expression, and to apply that right responsibly without inciting further tensions. And any actions by any party to subvert the rule of law or provoke ethnic and sectarian tensions risks undermining the significant progress that Iraq has made towards peace and stability, and the important work that the U.S. and Iraq have been doing together.
So we want to see these difficult issues settled through consultation among Iraqi leaders, and we want to see them reach an agreement on the path forward for Iraq.

The Iraqi protests have not been violent. They've been taking place since December 21st and only one has had any violence -- when an unpopular politician showed up, refused to take the stage and his guards fired on protesters. I filled in for Rebecca last night and noted that Nuland was deliberately distorting reality in order to play the protesters as 'wrong doers.' Sure enough, the Albany Times, reporting on her remarks at the press conference, headlines their piece The Albany Tribune headlines this 'news,' "U.S. Concerned Over Violent Protests in Iraq."

She knew exactly what she was doing.

It's interesting, isn't it, that she didn't rush to talk about the need to allow the press to do their work? As noted in Friday's snapshot, Nouri used the military to keep reporters away from protests so that they couldn't cover them.

In today's press briefing, Nuland experienced a little push back on the topic of Pakistan and on the topic of Iraq. Here she is taking offense to a pretty fair characterization of her lackadaisical, flat affect when it comes to Iraq.

QUESTION: Iraq.

MS. NULAND: Yeah.

QUESTION: The country is teetering nearly on the verge of explosion yet we are – I am struck by your position towards what's going on in Iraq. I mean, there is a threat that Kurdistan may break away. There are elements of – there is heightened sectarian tension, there is violence going on every day, and so on. And your reaction is like that of Switzerland. I mean, the United States has invested blood and treasure, to repeat the common term, in Iraq. Yet, share with us what are you doing behind the scene to basically mitigate this explosive situation?

MS. NULAND: Well, I would completely reject your characterization of our dialogue and our interaction with Iraq and Iraqis. We have been extraordinarily active for many, many months now with Iraqis of all stripes and all groups, and maintaining the highest level contact with leaders across the country in support of political dialogue among them to protect and preserve the gains that they have made, and the constitutional structure of the country that provides for human rights protections and power sharing among the various different Iraqi groups.

So you know that we want to see Iraq continue on a stable, peaceful, democratic trajectory. That's going to – that takes work. It takes commitment by all forces in Iraq. And we've been making the general point about issues of concern between communities being settled by dialogue. But we've also been quite active when individual issues have cropped up, including recently with regard to Iraqi forces in the Peshmerga, et cetera. So we are continuing to be enormously vigilant. We have an enduring commitment and agreement to support Iraq, but it is undergirded by our desire to see Iraqi democracy protected in all of its forms.

QUESTION: On that very point, on the constitution, and it was shepherded by the United States of America, there are some major things that have not been followed through on despite commitment to the contrary, like the hydrocarbon law.

MS. NULAND: Right.

QUESTION: Like the power sharing. Like many, many, other things, Article 140 that regulates whatever between Kurdistan and the central government. Could you share with us how much progress have you made in the last two, three years?

MS. NULAND: Well, again, I don't think anybody's satisfied by how difficult it's been to resolve some of these issues that have never gotten settled, including the question of the hydrocarbon law and energy sharing, et cetera, inside Iraq. I think Iraqis, among all of us, are the most frustrated by that. But, again, these issues can only be solved politically, they can only be solved democratically, they can only be solved through dialogue. That's the course that we continue to urge, and we continue to use our influence to try to encourage Iraqis to talk to each other and work through these issues.

The point of the neocons was war with Iraq and they latched onto Nouri al-Maliki as the answer to stealing Iraq's oil. That's why the Bush administration installed him in 2006 and why Barack Obama refused to let Iraqiya have the prime minister post in 2010 despite the fact that Iraqiya beat Nouri's State of Law in the parliamentary elections. (Doubt Barack's neocon connections. Listen to the 2012 State of the Union address again -- that's Robert Kagan's The World America Made that he's riffing on, as even Random House noted.) Michael Rubin's a neocon as well (you don't post pieces like this one unless you're a neocon). Rubin's not an idiot. So at Commentary today, he really isn't as stupid as he comes off. He's lying the way neocons always lie. Protests are taking place in Iraq against Nouri. Against Nouri. Rubin knows that. Rubin knows Nouri's a joke on the international stage. Rubin knows the best way to distort the protests and improve Nouri's image is to pretend that the protests are "anti-Shi'ite." Here are facts that Rubin hopes you don't know Ayad Allawi, head of Iraqiya, is Shi'ite. Allawi has endorsed the protesters. Moqtada al-Sadr, Shi'ite cleric and movement leader, has endorsed the protests. Today another Shi'ite group endorsed the protesters.

These are not anti-Shi'ite protests. But Rubin hopes if he lies about it, it'll take some of the pressure off Nouri, the neocon pet. Getting rid of Bush did not end the neocons. In fact, Rubin still is the adviser to US military officers when they're about to be shipped off to the Middle East. Do you get how offensive that is? This is under Barack's administration.

Please grasp that the US government has spent and wasted billions of tax payer dollars on Iraq -- on the illegal war, on propping up puppet Nouri and so much more. When Bully Boy Bush was in the White House, the State Dept was required to publish a weekly report on Iraq -- and they did. Back then, the Defense Dept was in charge of the billions. Now it's the State Dept in charge and in charge of billions of dollars. In Fiscal Year 2013 (which started October 1, 2012), the State Dept plans to spend $4.8 billion in Iraq. How? Don't you know the State Dept is not accountable to you the taxpayer. Apparently, the State Dept is like the Bell Telephone Company before the break up. "We are not subject to city, state or federal legislation. We are ominpotent," Lily Tomlin's Ernestine used to say.

They won't answer the Congress, they won't answer the Special Inspector General on Iraq Reconstruction. No one can get a straight answer out of them. In a functioning democracy, they would be denied all Iraq funding as a result. And asked today, "Could you share with us how much progress have you made in the last two, three years," Nuland had nothing to offer. How telling. $4.8 billion wasted this year that could have been better spent.

Instead, they get the bulk of Iraq funding. The bulk. Not the only.

The US Defense Dept is still in Iraq, still spending money despite claims that all US troops are out. Look at the DoD's budget request for FY2013 [PDF format warning, click here]. It is in this Feburary 2012 document that you'll find all sorts of interesting information including this:

Years of effort have helpd enable the Iraqi government to take the lead in protecting its people and providing essential services. While U.S. forces will continue to play important roles in providing force protection and targeted counterterrorism operations, there are no performance goals included in the Department's Annual Performance Plans (Exhibit B) in FY 2012 and FY 2013 for this objective area.

That's chapter seven's page thirty-seven, by the way. (Each chapter in the request starts numbering their pages with page one, FYI.) On chapter six's page five, you'll find this:

OSC-I: $508 million for the operation of the Office of Security Cooperation - Iraq (OSC-I), which is a cornerstone for achieving the long-term U.S. goal of building parternship capacity in the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). The OSC-I will conduct the full range of traditional security cooperation activities such as joint exercise planning, combined arms training, conflict resolution, multilateral peace opeartions, senior level visits and other forms of bilateral engagement. Additionally, the OSC-I will conduct security cooperation activities in support of the ISF to include providing: Academy instructors; Ministerial and Service level advisors; logistic and operations capacity building; intelligence integration; and interagency collabortion. The OSC-I is the critical Defense component of the U.S. Mission Iraq and a foundational element of our long-term strategic partnership with Iraq.

$508 million. That's a pretty big figure when Barack kept saying in the debates that he brought all US troops home.

Let's move over to the protests that the US administration refuses to support. Alsumaria reports Nineveh Province Governor Ethel al-Nujaifi (also spelled Atheel) noted today that the protests against Nouri al-Maliki and his oppressive government continue. He states that the demonstrations will continue until the protesters demands are met. The Governor is the brother of Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi and yesterday their family suffered a loss when the son of their cousin Abdul-Rahman Khalid al-Nujaifi was shot dead in Mosul. AFP reports today that the son killed, Abdulrahman al-Nujaifi, was only ten-years-old and that Governor al-Nujaifi states Nouri's anti-terror brigade killed the child, "This anti-terrorist brigade, we call it the golden brigade, in Mosul, opened fire on the car and killed the young boy in public, in front of everyone. They followed the car, and they opened fire with no regard. The young boy was in the car with his brothers and the driver, returning from school."

Thursday, January 03, 2013

THIS JUST IN! A FEW KIND OF WAKE UP!

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

AS PRINCESS BARRY GETS READY TO GUT THE SAFETY NET, EVEN SOME OF HIS LONG TIME ENABLERS ARE BEGINNING TO GET ANTSY. LITTLE TA-NEHISI COATES OF THE ATLANTIC EVEN REGISTERS AN ACTUAL COMPLAINT:

Obama and his allies like to deride lefties as a group of softheads who don't understand that negotiation is essential to government. But they don't like to deal with a more stinging left-wing critique: Negotiation is a part of democracy and Barack Obama, whatever his many, many talents, is not very good at it.

NOTICE THAT THERE'S ALWAYS MONEY FOR WEAPONS. (NOTICE TOO THAT PRINCESS IS BACK IN HAWAII.)

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

At the right-wing National Review, Victor Davis Hanson notes that Bully Boy Bush left office at the start of 2009 with an approval rating of 34% but it's now up to 46%. He calls out the way Bush was demonized and notes how Barack Obama can do the same thing or more and get away with it. That is correct. But he wants to 'explain' how people were wrong about Bush on the Iraq War. He backs up his opinions with facts and makes a solid argument from the right. That's what he's supposed to do. He hasn't done anything 'wrong.' And this is how the right hopes to win the argument and has had some success in the past.

There are a ton of reasons to continue focusing on Iraq here in the US. But if people only care about themselves then maybe now some on the left who've argued it doesn't matter (including two friends with The Nation magazine) will wake up? We've gone over what could happen repeatedly in the last years. We did so at length August 20, 2010 in "The war continues (and watch for the revisionary tactics."

If you're old enough, you saw it with Vietnam. That illegal war ended with the government called out for its actions. And some people -- a lot in fact -- just moved on. The weakest of the left moved on because it wasn't 'polite' to talk about it or it wasn't 'nice' or 'can't we all just get along' and other nonsense. Others talked about things because they didn't care about Vietnam, the Vietnamese or the US service members. And, after all, they had a peanut farmer from Georgia to elect, right? And bit by bit, year by year, all these lies about Vietnam took root. The press turned the people against it! The US could have won if the military's hands hadn't been tied! All this nonsense that, back when the public was paying attention in the early to mid-seventies, would have been rejected outright by the majority of Americans.

Jane Fonda explains in the amazing documentary Sir! No Sir!, "You know, people say, 'Well you keep going back, why are you going back to Vietnam?' We keep going back to Vietnam because, I'll tell you what, the other side does. They're always going back. And they have to go back -- the Hawks, you know, the patriarchs. They have to go back because, and they have to revise the going back, because they can't allow us to know what the back there really was."

And if you silence yourself while your opponent digs in on the topic, a large number of Americans -- including people too young to remember what actually happened -- here nothing but the revisionary arguments. Jane's correct, the right-wing always went back to Vietnam. They're at fork in the road probably because, do they continue to emphasize Vietnam as much as they have, or do they move on to Iraq. Victor Davis Hanson's ready to move on to Iraq. He's not the only one on the right.

And on the left we have silence.

And that is why revisionary tactics work. It's not because revisions are stronger than facts. It's because one side gives up. And the left -- check The Progressive, The Nation, etc.* -- has long ago given up on even pretending to care about Iraq -- about the Iraq War, about the Iraqis, about the US service members. [*But not In These Times -- they've continued to feature Iraq about every six months. Give them credit for that.]

I'm sure they'll work really hard at electing some center-right Democrats to Congress in the 2014 elections. I'm sure that will be the focus of their efforts. But if they'd focus on things that really matter, it would force the candidates to be stronger. We'd have a better informed and educated electorate and the candidates would have to rise to that to get votes. These periodicals (and toss in the Pacifica Radio shows as well) love to whine about how Democrats used to stand for something and how they've been watered down and watered down. Yet these same outlets do an awful job of informing about real issues because they instead focus on electing Democrats and the occassional cause celebre. When that's what you do, you automatically cede ground to the other side.

Another reason to pay attention is because Iraq was a defining moment. And a number of people have exposed themselves as utter frauds. For example, many years ago a number of us who are feminists applauded Jill Abramson and Jane Mayer for their work that culminated with the book Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas. But maybe we were too kind in our praise. In America, we are likely to treat someone simply doing the job they're supposed to be doing as if they're a hero. Time has proven that Jane Mayer is an attack dog for the Democratic Party and not actually a journalist. (A journalist doesn't stop doing expose pieces because a Democrat is in the White House.) And Jill? The current Executive Editor of the New York Times appeared at the Commonwealth Club December 6th and, wouldn't you know it, she wanted to talk Iraq.

Jill Abramson: If there's any one thing I could change it would be, as Washington bureau chief, not all of the reporters who were covering the WMD issues and Iraq were part of the Washington bureau. And I just wish -- You know -- I -- many of those stories didn't come through me but certainly I was aware of them. And, you know, I wish that I had been paying more attention because the Times really did brandish on the front page some very questionable stories that were based on, you know, Iraqi defectors who had an interest in promoting the toppling of Saddam Hussein, who were going around to various reporters including reporters at the Times, peddling the story of this ramped up WMD program which, of course, didn't exist. That is number one. I wish I had paid more attention. And journalism isn't a game that you play with 20/20 hindsight vision unfortunately. I'm sure that many people at the BBC wish -- you know -- 'Gee I wish, you know, I had been paying more attention to the documentary and what not.' So, number one, I wish I was paying more attention to the totality of the coverage and some of the stories that were faulty including the one about the tubes that suggested -- When the Times published that story on the front page and was kind of a welcome sign for Dick Cheney and Condi Rice to go on the Sunday show -- shows -- to talk about mushroom clouds that, of course, were a fantasy. And there, I think -- and I've done a lot of thinking about this -- I wish that I had been more tuned in to the reporters in Washington, a few in the Times bureau, but especially Knight-Ridder which had -- at the time -- a very, very good Washington bureau and their major sources on this were skeptics within the CIA -- CIA analysts who were like, 'Be careful with this WMD evidence.' They were very skeptical about it.

What a load of crap. Let me start first by saying, Jill, I don't think you can be a witness in a perjury trial and then perjure yourself. Jill was Scooter Libby's witness against Judith Miller, for those who don't know. Judith Miller wrote some very bad articles for the New York Times (and co-wrote some as well) in the lead up to the war. We've called her out repeatedly. We've also noted it was bad reporting and not lying as evidenced by her actions after the start of the war when she basically took over a US military squad and had them looking for WMD that she desparately wanted to find. She based her career on that WMD. There was none.

Judith Miller stayed in jail until her source on Valerie Plame (she never wrote about Plame) gave her permission to name him. Plame-Gate was when the Bush administration outed a CIA agent to get back at former Ambassdor Joe Wilson for his column in the New York Times about how there was no yellow cake in Niger (in response to Bully Boy Bush's claim that Saddam Hussein had recently sought uranium there). Valerie Plame was an undercover CIA agent and she was married to Joe Wilson. She was outed by Scooter Libby (Dick Cheney's chief of staff) as the administration sought to get back at Joe Wilson.

Once Judith Miller came forward about her source, that's when Jill enters the picture and Jill presented herself on the witness stand as completely involved and an expert on 'bad' Judith Miller. Because of Miller's lousy reporting on Iraq, some will cheer that. But let's grasp that what Jill was doing was providing cover for Scooter Libby. That's what she did in her testimony.

Yet after the courtroom performance on Scooter Libby's behalf, where Jill was an expert on what was taking place and who was writing what and who was talking to whom, Jill now wants to play like she wasn't involved?

She also wants to ignore that James Risen took stories, skeptical stories, to her and she shot them down repeatedly. Risen's even spoken publicly about some of this. Jill knows he has and she wants to lie to everyone all these years later? For example, from Joe Hagan's "The United States of America vs. Bill Keller" (New York magazine, September 10, 2006):

In addition, Risen harbored lingering resentment of Abramson over the paper's WMD coverage. When she was Washington bureau chief under [Howell] Raines, Risen has claimed to at least two people, he offered her reporting that cast doubt on the Bush administration's evidence about Iraq's WMD program. At the time, Miller's reporting was how the Times, as an extension of Raines, saw the subject. And Abramson felt powerless to fight Raines over this and other things. When Risen press his case, she finally told him to "get with the program," these people say.

It only gets worse.

She wishes she had followed the other coverage, she says, because if she'd followed Knight-Ridder, she might have been skeptical too. First, it's rather pissy of her not to have named the reporters or noted that it's now McClatchy. The three primary reporters on Iraq in the lead up to the war were Warren P. Strobel, Jonathan S. Landay and Margaret Talev. Second, she needed to see other people being skeptical of government officials? Journalists are supposed to be skeptical. It's a basic of journalism.

And when you have a source with an aim (let alone grudge), you are supposed to be very skeptical of their claims. That's why, for example, when a whistleblower comes forward, an employer will always try to make it seem like a case of sour grapes because if they can make the employee look like they've got an axe to grind, it will make the press take the employee less seriously.

What I'm talking about here, Jill Abramson knows all that. She's not stupid. She gave a for-show performance. She never mentioned the Iraqis that died or the Americans that died. She gave a little performance taking as little accountability as she thought she could get away with.

She makes a lot of excuses for herself but she doesn't appear to have learned a damn thing. In September 2008, she got praise for 'taking responsibility' on Iraq. She didn't. It was an aside in a book review. She's still not taking accountability. People are dead, people are wounded and her, "I wish I had been more skeptical"? It just doesn't cut it.

You should pay attention if only to see who, like Jill, changes their story. Again, it's not just her fault. It's the fault of people like me, my fault absolutely, for treating her work in the 90s as something wonderful. She did her job. Nothing more, nothing less. She didn't earn the praise. And then people rushed to praise her in 2008 for her aside in the book review (I didn't praise her for that -- at least I had enough sense then to know better). So now she thinks she can offer this simplistic revisionary nonsense and get more praise. And she's probably right because most people don't pay attention.

Expand

That's Prashant Rao with AFP. "Low-level war" is another reason you'd think the world would be paying attention to what's going on in Iraq.

Iraq Body Count reports 272 people were killed from violence in Iraq for the month of December and they count 4,557 deaths from violence in Iraq for 2012. In a report entitled "Iraqi deaths from violence in 2012," Iraq Body Count explains:

2012 marks the first year since 2009 where the death toll for the year has increased (up from 4,136 in 2011), but 2012 itself has been marked by contrasts. While it seems December will be the least violent month in the last two years, June was the most violent in three years, so the improvements in the second half of the year are from that higher level of violence. It is premature to predict whether the record low levels of violence in the last quarter of the year will be sustained. Overall, 2012 has been more consistent with an entrenched conflict than with any transformation in the security situation for Iraqis in the first year since the formal withdrawal of US troops.
In sum the latest evidence suggests that the country remains in a state of low-level war little changed since early 2009, with a "background" level of everyday armed violence punctuated by occasional larger-scale attacks designed to kill many people at once.

Iraq Body Count also notes that March 2013 will mark ten years since the start of the Iraq War and that they "will provide an overview of the known death toll covering the invasion and the first full decade of its aftermath."

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

THIS JUST IN! WASTING MORE MONEY!

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

PRINCESS BARRY O SPENT YESTERDAY PRAISING HIMSELF FOR CONGRESS AVOIDING THE 'FISCAL CLIFF' HE AND THE CONGRESS CREATED.

HE SEES IT AS PROOF OF FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY.

BUT LET'S SEE . . .

CONGRESS IS USUALLY HOME AT THIS TIME.

SO OFFICES USED ELECTRICITY, THE HALLS OF CONGRESS USED ELECTRICITY AND HEAT, THE CONGRESSIONAL CAFE HAD TO BE OPEN . . .

YEAH, PRINCESS BARRY JUST ADDED COSTS. NOTHING TO BRAG ABOUT THERE FISCALLY SPEAKING.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Chelsea J. Carter and Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN -- link is text and video) look at the year in Iraq:

Then came the official end of the war. On December 31, 2011, the country celebrated "Iraq Day" and the departure of U.S. troops. As Iraq prepares to mark the anniversary, also known as the "Day of Sovereignty," last year's celebratory tone has been replaced by a more somber one.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's political bloc, the Islamic Dawa Party, called on Iraqis not to become divided along sectarian or ethnic lines by "malicious schemes." The country has struggled to define itself, as its government stumbles from one political crisis to another.

Just as the last U.S. troops withdrew, al-Maliki, a Shiite, moved to arrest Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, who al-Maliki accused of using his security detail as a hit squad.

More recently, a few days before the first Iraq Day anniversary, thousands of Sunnis took to the streets in Anbar province, a major trade thoroughfare to Jordan and Syria, to protest al-Maliki's order to arrest the bodyguards of Finance Minister Rafaie Esawi, a Sunni. The arrest of Esawi's bodyguards came just hours after President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who is widely viewed as a stabilizing political force in Iraq, left the country to undergo treatment for cancer in Germany.

2012 saw another cholera outbreak in Iraq thanks to Nouri al-Maliki's refusal to spend any of the billions made off of oil on the Iraqi people. They lack potable water in most areas. If you don't have potable water -- safe water -- to drink, you have to boil it before using it (or add purification tablets) and you better hope you didn't rush the boil and that the tablets still work. This wouldn't be a problem if Nouri would fix the public services. He's been prime minister since 2006, that's six years so the resposibility and the failure is all on him.

In addition to a lack of potable water, Nouri's also failed to provide dependable electricity. All this time later, it's still apparently too much to expect to have electricity for more than a few hours. Strange because, before the start of the Iraq War, these electricity shortages weren't so common. Even something as basic as santiation is beyond Nouri's capabilities so children -- risking infection and disease -- can be found playing in the piled up sewage so common on many Iraqi streets. Nouri's also refused to spend money on the crumbling infrastructure. This winter, Iraqis saw what Nouri's cheapness has resulted in: Flooding throughout Iraq, homes falling down from the flooding, people dying in the homes, people dying from drowning, people dying from electrocution, people trudging through parts of Baghdad in knee-high water. When you let the infrastructure fall apart, drainage becomes problematic. The Iraqi Red Crescent Society had to evacuate at least one village this month as a result of homes collapsing from the flooding.

Surely Nouri's done better somewhere, right? Nope. Iraq is still among the most corrupt countries as ranked by Transparency International. 176 countries were ranked this year on transparency and Iraq came in as the 169th most transparent country. Only seven countries were ranked as less transparent. Nouri's long been accused of skimming off Iraq's funds and his family lives high on the hog. He also employs his son who is said to be as much of a terror as Uday Hussein was said to be. Nouri's son is part of current corruption scandal.

October 9th, with much fanfare, Nouri signed a $4.2 billion dollar weapons deal with Russia. He strutted and preened and was so proud of himself. Yet shortly after taking his bows on the world stage and with Parliament and others raising objections, Nouri quickly announced the deal was off. The scandal, however, refuses to go away. The Iraq Times stated Nouri was offering up his former spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh and others to protect the truly corrupt -- the truly corrupt -- according to members of Parliament -- including Nouri's son who got a nice little slice off the deal. These charges came from Shi'ite MPs as well as Sunnis and Kurds. Even the Shi'ite National Alliance has spoken out. All Iraq News noted National Alliance member and one-time MP Wael Abdul Latif is calling for Nouri to quickly bring charges against those involved in the corruption. (The arms deal is now treated by the Iraqi press as corrupt and not allegedly corrupt, FYI.) Latif remains a major player in the National Alliance and the National Alliance has backed Nouri during his second term. With his current hold on power reportedly tenous and having already lost the support of Moqtada al-Sadr, Nouri really can't afford to tick off the National Alliance as well. Kitabat reported MP Maha al-Douri, of Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc in Parliament, is saying Nouri's on a list of officials bribed by Russia for the deal.

Then there's the other big news this year, bomb sniffing dogs and explosive detectors. Iraq's finally getting them. This might be seen as 'good news' except for one thing: They've needed them for years and Nouri's pride prevented that.

The magic wands. It's a story so old even David Petraeus weighed in at one point. Nouri's government spent a small fortune purchasing these magic wands from a British company that apparently didn't also sell magic beans. You held the magic wand by a car and you 'jogged' in place, pumping your legs up and down and the magic wand, activated by your movement, would then detect a bomb if one was present. If you're not believing it, October, 9, 2009, an Iraqi correspondent for McClatchy was exploring the subject at Inside Iraq:

Before starting telling you what happens in most of the checkpoints you should know about the "explosives detectors". The device is carried by security man who stops your car and walk beside it carrying the device. The device's pointer changes its direction when passed by a car that supposedly carries explosives.

In November of 2009, Rod Nordland (New York Times) reported:

The small hand-held wand, with a telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being used at hundreds of checkpoints in Iraq. But the device works "on the same principle as a Ouija board" -- the power of suggestion -- said a retired United States Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, who described the wand as nothing more than an explosives divining rod.
Still, the Iraqi government has purchased more than 1,500 of the devices, known as the ADE 651, at costs from $16,500 to $60,000 each. Nearly every police checkpoint, and many Iraqi military checkpoints, have one of the devices, which are now normally used in place of physical inspections of vehicles.
With violence dropping in the past two years, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has taken down blast walls along dozens of streets, and he contends that Iraqis will safeguard the nation as American troops leave.

It wasn't just that US generals laughed at the magic wands, by 2010 even the British government was disturbed, demanding the devices no longer be manufactured and suing the company. But Nouri refused to join in the lawsuit (he apparently only likes to sue the press and politicians) and insisted that the magic wands continued to be used. Instead of admitting that he had wasted over one million dollars on magic wands that didn't work, Nouri put his vanity ahead of the safety of the Iraqi people. Last November, years after the problem was first discovered, it was quietly announced that Iraq would finally be getting bomb sniffing dogs and explosive sensors.

Did he not sue because he got a kickback on the deal? Who knows?

Iraqis continue to live in poverty and it is a nation of widows and orphans -- over a million orphans we learned as the year wound down. Nouri's 'answer' to that? End the food-ration card system. This system was put in place in the 90s and provided the Iraqi people with basic staples. After the start of the Iraq War in 2003, the US government targeted the food-ration card system. Paul Bremer was only the first US official to attempt to end it. Ending it would not be easy so they instead worked on cutting it each year so that it offered less and less. In 2006, when Nouri became prime minister, he continued the cuts.

This fall, he decided, with record poverty and unemployment close to 40% in Iraq, that now was the time to end this program. Cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr was the first to call him out and insist this wasn't happening. Iraqiya and others quickly backed Moqtada and Nouri was forced to back down (and even tried to claim that it wasn't his idea -- his Cabinet had planned it out without him). Iraq takes in billions on oil sales each year. Yet Nouri claimed there was no profit to share with the Iraqi people. Moqtada also pushed back on that and has been meeting regularly with the ministries to find out where the money is going.

It's not going to the Iraqi people. Well what about justice? Is Nouri providing justice? Early 2012 saw the Ministry of the Interior visit schools and tell Iraqi students that Emo and LGBT youth were devil worshippers, were vampires, were perverts and that they must die. That's appallling and that's Nouri. Nouri is the Minister of the Interior. How can he be the Minister of the Interior and the Prime Minister. Back in July, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support." See, according to the Iraqi Constitution, if you can't appoint a full Cabinet, you can't become prime minister (someone else is named prime minister designate and given 30 days to build a Cabinet). But US President Barack Obama wanted Nouri to have a second term so no rules applied then (or apply now).

So Nouri had his Ministry go into schools and egg on violence against Emo and LGBT Iraqis -- and Iraqis who might be mistaken for Emo or LGBT. There was worldwide outrage. The story got covered by outlets that normally didn't even cover Iraq -- such as England's NME and the US' Rolling Stone magazine. Nouri called off his dogs and tried to lie that the Ministry of Interior was not involved; however, the Iraqi press quickly printed the handout the Ministry of the Interior had circulated on its school visits. Nouri's such a damn liar.

Dropping back to the November 12th snapshot:

Staying with violence, as noted in the October 15th snapshot, Iraq had already executed 119 people in 2012. Time to add more to that total. Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported last night that 10 more people were executed on Sunday ("nine Iraqis and one Egyptian"). Tawfeeq notes the Ministry of Justice's statement on the executions includes, "The Iraqi Justice Ministry carried out the executions by hanging 10 inmates after it was approved by the presidential council." And, not noted in the report, that number's only going to climb. A number of Saudi prisoners have been moved into Baghdad over the last weeks in anticipation of the prisoners being executed. Hou Qiang (Xinhua) observes, "Increasing executions in Iraq sparked calls by the UN mission in the country, the European Union and human rights groups on Baghdad to abolish the capital punishment, criticizing the lack of transparency in the proceedings of the country's courts."

Amnesty International was among those condemning the mass executions. Though all the executions for 2012 have yet to be tabulated, Iraq is expected to be at the top of the list of most people put to death.

Nouri's also targeted the press. 5 journalists were killed in 2012 (we'll have more on that near the end of the snapshot). Outlets that report realities Nouri doesn't like are repeatedly attacked. Both Al Mada and Kitabat were hacked in 2012 following their hard hitting reporting on corruption. Dropping back to Saturday, December 15th:

The Iraq Times reports that cable channel Baghdadi was surrounded by the Iraqi military on Friday and they forced everyone out and then shut the station down. They also note that Nouri ordered the closure. The Iraq Times reports that Iraqiya spokesperson Maysoon al-Damalouji declared today that Nouri is attempting to rebuild the Republic of Fear (a reference to the days of Saddam Hussein) and decried the closing of Baghdadiya TV.

The satellite channel's crime? Reporting on the corruption in the Russian oil deal. This month, he also began targeting Fakhri Karim who is the editor and chair of Al Mada newspaper -- he's had Karim's home surrounded by the US military. Isn't it strange how in 'free' Iraq, Nouri's always sending in the military to attack the press. And isn't it strange how the US government -- even most of the US media -- refuse to call that out? (Friday, he used the military to keep reporters away from the protests in an attempt to ensure that they did not get coverage.)

The White House backs thug Nouri. Elaine pointed out Friday:

Nouri is a threat and danger to the Iraqi people.
They voted for change and Barack went around their votes, the democracy, the Constitution to devise a contract (Erbil Agreement) to give Nouri a second term.
Again, gays are targeted, Sunnis are targeted, Nouri refused to even have one woman in his Cabinet until there was international outcry -- and this is who the US government backs.
Remember that the next time Barack wants to pretend to give a damn about human rights.

Nouri is in his second term as prime minister. Why? Barack Obama. In March 2010, Iraqis voted in parliamentary elections. Nouri's State of Law was expected to win by a wide margin. The Iraqi people had other ideas. Nouri's State of Law came in second to the Ayad Allawi headed Iraqiya slate. Per the Constitution, per democracy, per vote counting, that made Iraqiya the winner and, as such, they were supposed to be immediately named prime minister-designate (one person from their slate, most likely Allawi) and then given 30 days to form a Cabinet. Failure to do so would result in someone else being named prime minister-designate. This is clearly outlined in the Constitution. But Nouri didn't want to lose his post. So he threw a public tantrum for eight months basically refusing to vacate the palace. And he was able to get away with that because he had the support of Barack Obama. During this time, the US government didn't argue for fairness or democracy or rule of law or the Constitution. They went to the political blocs and told them that they were in the wrong. They told them they needed to be mature and give. They need to give to the loser. Grasp that, the US government started a propaganda campaign at political leaders to get them to give up what they'd won to the loser Nouri. A few asked questions. Supposedly Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (currently in Germany receiving medical treatment) got very short with US Vice President Joe Biden in one phone call (no, not the one where Joe asked him to let Allawi be president). Talbani finally, supposedly, had the brains to ask, "What's in it for us?"

Like a lightening bolt, the US government decided they could give Nouri a second term by going around the Constitution, by drawing a contract between the political blocs. This 'inspiration' resulted in the US-brokered Erbil Agreement. Leaders of political blocs agreed to give Nouri a second term (and end the eight-month plus stalemate) in exchange for Nouri agreeing to give them certain things. The primary demand by the Kurds was that Article 140 of the Constitution be implemented (finally). Iraqiya's primary demand was that an independent national security council be created and headed by a member of Iraqiya. Nouri used this contract to get his second term. Then he trashed the contract. The White House had given their word that not only was the contract legally binding but that they would stand by it. They did nothing.

In the summer of 2011, the Kurds, Moqtada al-Sadr and Iraqiya began publicly calling for Nouri to honor the contract. He blew them off creating the current stalemate on which numerous political crises have been stacked. John Barry's "'The Engame' Is A Well Researched, Highly Critical Look at U.S. Policy in Iraq" (Daily Beast):

Washington has little political and no military influence over these developments [in Iraq]. As Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor charge in their ambitious new history of the Iraq war, The Endgame, Obama's administration sacrificed political influence by failing in 2010 to insist that the results of Iraq's first proper election be honored: "When the Obama administration acquiesced in the questionable judicial opinion that prevented Ayad Allawi's bloc, after it had won the most seats in 2010, from the first attempt at forming a new government, it undermined the prospects, however slim, for a compromise that might have led to a genuinely inclusive and cross-sectarian government."

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"He can't stop lying"
"THIS JUST IN! MORE LIES!"

Sunday, December 30, 2012

THIS JUST IN! MORE LIES!

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

TODAY PRINCESS BARRY DECLARED HE WAS "MODESTLY OPTIMISTIC" REGARDING THE SO-CALLED 'FISCAL CLIFF.'

WHICH IS HOW AMERICA KNOWS HE'S LYING.

HE'S NEVER BEEN MODEST ABOUT ANYTHING.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

The US Embassy in Baghdad issued the following warning today:

December 28, 2012

Threat information indicates that terrorist elements may target U.S. interests in Baghdad, including the United States Embassy, as well as churches in Baghdad and Kirkuk, on or around December 31, 2012. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad urges U.S. citizens in Iraq to exercise caution and to refer to the current travel warning on our website.

We strongly recommend that U.S. citizens traveling to or residing in Iraq enroll in the Department of State's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) at www.Travel.State.Gov. STEP enrollment gives you the latest security updates, and makes it easier for the U.S. embassy or nearest U.S. consulate to contact you in an emergency. If you don't have Internet access, enroll directly with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

Regularly monitor the State Department's website, where you can find current Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts, and the Worldwide Caution. Read the Country Specific Information for Iraq. For additional information, refer to "A Safe Trip Abroad" on the State Department's website.

Contact the U.S. embassy or consulate for up-to-date information on travel restrictions. You can also call 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or 1-202-501-4444 from other countries. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays). Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and download our free Smart Traveler iPhone App to have travel information at your fingertips.

It's a sign of how much turmoil there is in Iraq currently that it was little noted in the western coverage of Iraq today. This was the day dubbed "Friday of Honor" with plans for large protests in Iraq. Question: If you're the government and you don't want people to know about the protests, what might you do? Hmmm. . . .

Prashant Rao ‏@prashantrao

Been waiting 3+ hours at Anbar checkpoint with other media to cover Friday anti-govt demo. Go-ahead mysteriously not coming - I wonder why.

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Just a second, Prashant! You are Nouri al-Maliki and you don't want the protests to get attention, what could you do? How could you prevent attention to the protests? Maybe --

14h Prashant Rao ‏@prashantrao

4.5 hours at checkpoint with other media - Anbar protests at Friday prayers have begun, reports of massive crowds. Army keeping us here.

Expand

Prashant Rao of AFP, we are trying to think right now. Okay, so protests are taking place and Iraq's a failed state and you just made a new corruption list and, as Al Mada reports, Baghdad's just been named the worst place to live in the world by the Mercer Consulting Group. The rains are coming down hard and, as Dar Addustour notes, Baghdad's sunk by rainwater. You're Nouri al-Maliki and you don't want the word getting out about these protests so --

12h Prashant Rao ‏@prashantrao

5+ hours at Anbar checkpoint + army take IDs + told "authorisation" coming only after mid-day prayer = unable to cover Friday demo in #Iraq

Expand

Oh my goodness, Prashant Rao, you are 100% correct. If the government doesn't want word of the protests out, the easiest way is to refuse to allow journalists close enough to the protests to cover them. BBC News observes:

Some journalists attempting to reach the city were held at an army checkpoint some 50km east of Ramadi for six hours, and were unable to cover the demonstration, says the BBC's Rami Ruhayem who was at the scene.

The government has succeeded in keeping the protests out of the public eye to an extent, says our correspondent, but in the process has revealed how nervous it is over this latest challenge to its authority.

AFP reports:

Army units did, however, bar Baghdad-based journalists from entering Anbar province, holding teams from AFP and other media at a checkpoint between Baghdad and Ramadi for more than five hours.
They also confiscated their press badges, promising to return them only if they turned back to Baghdad.
A senior security official said that there were "strong preventative measures to protect the demonstrators", but journalists witnessed dozens of cars pass through the checkpoint where they were held with no questioning whatsoever.

As the Washington Post's Liz Sly Tweeted:

13h

‏@LizSly

Democracy in Iraq MT @prashantrao: 4.5 hours at checkpoint w media-Anbar protests have begun, reports of big crowds. Army keeping us here.

Expand

'Democracy in Iraq' indeed.

Morning Star notes, "Protesters took to the streets after Friday prayers for the sixth day of protests calling for Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down and for the release of Sunni prisoners." Al Arabiya notes that the protesters had support from Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr, "In a letter by Sadr sent to the tribal sheikhs, the Islamist leader said that he supports their protests against Maliki and their effort to hold unity and thwart sectarianism." Deutsche Welle quotes Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki whining today, "It is not acceptable to express something by blocking roads, inciting sedition and sectarianism, killing, or blowing the trumpet of war and dividing Iraq." Sign of a true despot, civil disobdience is likened to "killing." Because it is a 'killing,' it's a killing of his crafted image, it's an exposure of his failure as a leader. Ken Hanly (Digital Journal) observes of the slogan at many of the protests across Iraq "The people want to bring down the regime," "This is the slogan protesters used in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere during the Arab Spring."

Kitabat reports that "millions" came out to protest in Anbar Province today. Their photo of Falluja shows the large crowd with banners, flags and a huge photo of Minister of Finance Rafie al-Issawi (last week, Nouri al-Maliki ordered the arrest of 150 staff and bodyguards working for al-Issawi -- 10 have been charged with 'terrorism' and 50 have been released, this was seen as politically motivated). The Falluja protesters demanded that innocent people be released from detention and end to the 'terror' arrests, an end to politicizing the Iraqi military, that Nouri turn over the soldier who raped the girl in Mosul and more. They chanted for unity and for an end to sectarianism and Nouri's abusive government. Kamal Naama and Raheem Salman (Reuters) add, "Around 60,000 people blocked the main road through Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital, setting fire to the flag of Shi'ite Iran and shouting 'out, out Iran! Baghdad stays free' and 'Maliki you coward, don't take your advice from Iran'." AP goes with the more conservative crowd estimate of "tens of thousands" of people protesting. For a good photo from AP of the Falluja crowd, click here (photographer is Karim Kadim). Omar al-Saleh reported for today's Inside Story (Al Jazeera -- link is text and video):

Omar al-Saleh: A show of support in Ramadi and Falluja for Iraqi Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi. During it's biggest rally in days in Anbar Province, local leaders have called for civil disobedience and thousands have blocked the highway linking Iraq to Jordan and Syria. They are demanding the release of 9 bodyguards of the finance minister who were arrested on Thursday [of last week]. But Rafia al-Issawi addressed the crowd saying the issue now was bigger than his bodyguards.

Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi: This crowd is not political or sectarian. But it represents all Iraqis who came to denounce the injustice and marginalization. When we say the injustice has happened against Sunni Arabs, that doesn't mean that we want to take the country to a civil war.

Omar al-Saleh: The protesters urged the Shi'ite-led government to stop its sectarian approach and marginalization of Sunnis and their leaders but the government continues to deny the accusation. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says the issue of the bodyguards is judicial and the role of the state is to pursue wanted terrorists and not to support them. Many feel the crisis may escalate.

Political Analyst Watheq Alshashimi: The situation in Iraq may take a dangerous direction as elections approach. What politicians are doing is polarizing their supporters ethnically and based on sectarian affiliatons. What's happening in Anbar can escalate and may lead to more pressure on the prime minister.

Omar al-Saleh: But other Sunni leaders accuse the president of trying to consolidate his grip on power and target his political rivals. Tareq al-Hashemi, Iraq's fugitive Vice President, has been sentence to death in absentia for terrorism charges. He says the prime minister is adopting sectarian policies. Adding to Iraq's political turmoil is the looming confrontation between the Iraqi army and forces from the semi-autonomous Kurdish north.

We are only noting the report from that broadcasting. We are not noting -- on the advice of a former Al Jazeera producer -- the 'discussion.' I called him to ask what the hell was going on when this discussion was planned? State of Law is invited on and goes on to trash Iraqiya -- Iraqiya has no one on to represent them. No one to challenge the lies of State of Law? We're not interested in that nonsense but we do get why Al Jazeera had to kill Inside Iraq -- they killed that program -- because the presenter wouldn't slant it towards Nouri al-Maliki. Even when they pulled him off air as a threat, he refused to slant the program. He played it fair, inviting all segments of Iraq onto his show. And Al Jazeera had a problem with that. Which is why his program is no longer on. We're noting the report, we're not noting a fixed discussion that was fixed before a 'dialogue' even began.

As noted earlier, Prashant Rao and other journalists were prevented from entering to observe the Falluja protests; however, they were not the only ones blocked from entering the province. Aswat al-Iraq notes, "Police sources said here today that the army forces prevented Iraqi delegations from other provinces from entering to participate in Fallujah sit-in on the international highway." Al Jazeera (link has video) also goes with "thousands:"

Massive demonstrations took place along a major highway near the city of Fallujah on Friday, a day after thousands of protesters continued an almost week-long blockade on a key highway in the western Anbar province.

Protests erupted last week after Iraqi authorities detained 10 bodyguards of the finance minister, who is from Anbar and is one of the government's most senior Sunni officials.
Many Sunnis accuse Maliki of marginalising the country's religious minority group by refusing to share power and depriving them of equal rights.

Alsumaria notes "hundreds" protested in Mosul at noon and their demands were similar with the addition of they called for the execution of the soldier who raped the young girl. All Iraq News adds that the protesters called for all charges against al-Issawi's bodyguards to be dropped. Alsumaria notes that Samarra saw thousands turn out and their calls were similar but they also want the long promised amnesty law implemented and they want the Justice and Accountability Commission dissolved (the Commission was used most infamously in the 2010 elections to disqualify various Sunnis from running for office -- that includes the current Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq). AP adds that protests took place today in Tikrit as well. BBC News notes a Ramadi protest and that held "a mock funeral for the Iraqi judiciary."

Bill Van Auken (WSWS) observes:

The protests began last week after troops detained bodyguards and aides of Finance Minister Rafie al-Essawi, while searching his home and offices on December 20. The government has claimed that it arrested only ten of the minister's bodyguards on charges of "terrorism." But Essawi, a member of the secular, Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, charged that over 100 people connected to his staff were rounded up by what he said was a "militia force" controlled by Maliki's supporters.
It appears that the discrepancy arises from the fact that only the bodyguards were subjected to formal arrest, while the others were essentially subjected to extra-legal detention and interrogation.
Addressing Maliki in a statement to the Iraqi media, Essawi stated, "You are a man who does not respect partnership at all, a man who does not respect the law and the constitution, and I personally hold you fully responsible for the safety of the kidnapped people."
The finance minister told Associated Press that Maliki was deliberately seeking to stoke sectarian conflicts between the Sunni and Shia populations. "These practices are aimed at drawing the country into a sectarian conflict again by creating crisis and targeting prominent national figures," he said.
The incident was essentially a replay of a similar crackdown carried out a year ago, on December 19, 2011, the day after the last US troops ended the more than eight-year American occupation of Iraq. Then the target was Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, also a Sunni member of the Iraqiya bloc.

While the protests took place, Nouri attempted to distract by giving a speech. Alsumaria notes he was forced to admit that the budget for 2013 (that should be Fiscal Year 2013 unless something's changed) did not and would not improve the problems facing Iraqi citizens. For those who may have stepped out of the main room for a moment, that is no longer just the lack of basic services like electricity, potable water, trash pick up, etc. No, add flooding to the list as Iraq -- especially Baghdad -- finds itself flooded as a result of Nouri's refusal for the last six years to spend money on the infrastructure. Home are collapsing, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society evacuated one village this month (the village is in Wasit Province -- see Wednesday's snapshot). But Nouri says these problems will not be addressed in the budget. Karafillis Giannoulis (New Europe) notes of Nouri's speech broadcast on Iraqi TV, "At a conference in Baghdad, al-Maliki stressed that current tension can cause a return to the 'dark days when people were killed because of their names or identities.' For that reason Prime Minister of Iraq asked by the demonstrators to stop protesting and promote dialogue instead." Why does that sound like a threat? These protests can cause "dark days" to come back "when people were killed because of their names or identities"? Maybe because those dark days occurred most recently in Iraq during Nouri's first term as prime minister and the Sunnis were the ones targeted by Nouri's Ministry of the Interior forces? Maybe because that period of ethnic cleansing was overseen by Nouri? As the editorial board of Gulf News points out, "The sectarian drift of the Iraqi government, headed by Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, needs to be reversed. Al Maliki is a leading Shiite politician, but in his position as the head of a government, he needs to serve the entire Iraqi population and his government must work to be inclusive of all Iraqis — be they Shiite or Sunni; Kurdish or Turk; Christian or Muslim. "

The Daily Jot

Friday, January 04, 2013

THIS JUST IN! UNCLE CRACKER SAY WHAT?

Thursday, January 03, 2013

THIS JUST IN! A FEW KIND OF WAKE UP!

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

THIS JUST IN! WASTING MORE MONEY!

Sunday, December 30, 2012

THIS JUST IN! MORE LIES!

December 28, 2012

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