BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O JUST CAN'T MANAGE TO PULL OFF "ONE OF US" AND ALWAYS SEEMS LIKE THIS WEEK'S CRAZY ANOMALY ON FRINGE.
HE CONTINUED THE TREND THIS WEEK WHEN, ASKED BY A CHILD TO NAME HIS FAVORITE FOOD, BARRY O INSISTED IT WAS BROCCOLI.
BROCCOLI.
THE VEGETABLE MOST KIDS HAVE TO PRETEND ARE LITTLE TREES JUST TO GET THROUGH EATING THEM.
NEXT UP, BARRY O REVEALS HIS FAVORITE DRINKE: NEW COKE.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
The useless Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart
Bowen is thankfully heading out the door. What a useless
disappointment he became. Appearing before the House Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa this morning, Bowen,
in his usual pompous manner, insisted at one point, "There was no one in
charge in Iraq specifically for the rebuilding program and when the
Commission Wartime Contracting on Afghanistan held a hearing and
called . . ." Excuse me, you are over Iraq or Afghanistan?
That's right, Iraq. So why don't you stick to the topic?
The reality is that they're closing down the SIGIR office when they
should be extending it but if extending it means keeping Bowen there's
no point in wasting any more money because Bowen has been useless. Why
is the office needed? Because the State Dept budget continues to
include billions for Iraq. The same State Dept that Bowen briefly
called out in 2011 for its continued failure to provide his office with
basic answers. Then weak, meek Bowen fell silent.
It was time, on his final report, to deliver and instead he couldn't
because he is a weak ass who speaks privately about so much but goes
before Congress and plays dumb. Instead of using his final appearance
before the House to address Iraq, the stupid Bowen wanted to weigh in on
Syria, Afghanistan and so many other topics. He is a public servant
and it's time to call out these public servants paid to do a job and
failing to do it when appearing before Congress. I don't give a damn
what Bowen thinks is needed. I don't give a damn about his hypothesis,
speculation or conjecture. He was paid to provide oversight on Iraq and
he wanted to talk about everything except Iraq.
The Subcommittee Chair is Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Ranking Member is
Ted Deutch. Appearing before the Subcommittee were Stuart Bowen and the
Center for Complex Operations' John Herbst (who is also the former US
Ambassador to the Ukraine and Uzbekistan).
Subcommittee Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: The stabilization and
reconstruction operations in Iraq were, at the time, the largest such
project
of its kind that the United States Government ever undertook. But for
all the good intentions, it
was a program replete with challenges, overpromises, setbacks and
shortcomings. Of course it
had its share of accomplishments and successes as well, but at the end
of the day when we look
back at our approach to the rebuilding of Iraq we’re left with an
overall sense that there were too
many errors, that fraud was widespread and that here was an unnecessary
amount of waste of
U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Not long into the Iraq conflict it became clear that our expectations
for a limited post-conflict
engagement gave way to the realities on the ground. Our mission would
quickly have to shift
from a short-term operation to a long-term, protracted rebuilding effort
that would require large
amounts of human and financial capital that we had neither the planning
nor the capability to
conduct.
The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and his excellent
team spent nine years
and countless hours analyzing our efforts in Iraq in order to identify
the challenges we faced,
what we did wrong, where we succeeded, and most importantly: what
happened to the $60
billion used to fund the rebuilding of Iraq. What was concluded painted a
very grim picture of
our inability to adequately plan, execute and oversee large scale
stability and reconstruction
operations.
According to the Inspector General, as much as three to five billion
dollars were wasted from the
Iraq Relief and Reconstruction fund alone due to poor accountability,
and as much as eight
billion overall. Many projects in Iraq ran over budget and behind
schedule because of a lack of
oversight and lack of accountability, like the Basrah Children’s
Hospital.
According to the Inspector General’s reports, this hospital was supposed
to cost $50 million, but
ran to over $165 million and fell more than a year behind schedule.
Another mismanaged project
was the Fallujah Waste Water Treatment System. The IG found that the
initial $30 million dollar
project tripled in cost to nearly $100 million and only reached
one-third of the homes originally
planned.
From the Chair's opening remarks, there was much about Iraq to
discuss. However, Bowen was not interested in discussing Iraq. (He
appeared to grow bored with his job in early 2012.)
When pressed to talk about Iraq, he got snippy and, at one point,
insisted that a chief requirement for reconstruction in Iraq is to
ensure that security exists before reconstruction and relief efforts are
started. Does anyone think that security exists in Iraq currently?
Or how about his assertion that the plan was for the US to leave in
September 2003 but then that changed. Bowen is pulling opinions out of
his ass and they're not opinions he was paid to develop. That lie is
laughable and that's how he wasted everyone's time repeatedly.
Ranking Member Ted Deutch: It's been just over ten years since the
United States went into Iraq under a false pretense of thwarting Weapons
of Mass Destruction. Nearly 4500 brave US soldiers were killed more
than 3200 were wounded including thousands with critical brain and
spinal injuries and over 100,000 Iraqi civilians were killed. And now I
think there is an unfortunate perception that with so much upheaval in
the region over the last two years, Iraq is no longer a priority. Yet
at a cost of two-trillion dollars and the high human toll, we will feel
the effects of this war for many years. The US has spent 60 billion
dollars on reconstruction efforts that's an incredible amount of
taxpayer dollars.
Ranking Member Deutch deserves credit for that and for being aware of
the ongoing diplomatic presence in Iraq. US House Rep Mark Meadows
deserves credit for being aware that the US military remains in Iraq.
If other members were aware of the realities Deutch and Meadows noted,
they certainly didn't mention these realities in their own remarks.
After nine years of Bowen babbling on, don't you think he could have
prepared for this hearing? Don't the American people deserve
accountability? Bowen was riding his high horse about accountability.
But this was his final testimony after 9 years and he showed up
unwilling or unable to note how much money his office recovered or how
many people the work of his office led to convictions for.
Nine years and he had nothing to show for it but generic statements. How very sad.
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"THIS JUST IN! FORCE-FEED HIM HIS EGO!"
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
THIS JUST IN! FORCE-FEED HIM HIS EGO!
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
A JUDGE YESTERDAY STATED THAT SHE COULD NOT STOP THE FORCE-FEEDING OF THE PRISONERS AT THE GUANTANAMO CONCENTRATION CAMP BUT THAT CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O COULD.
SHE ACTUALLY COULD HAVE DONE MORE.
SHE COULD HAVE SENTENCED BARRY O TO BE FORCE-FED HIS OWN EGO. THEN AGAIN, CONSIDERING HOW BIG HIS EGO IS, SUCH A PUNISHMENT COULD HAVE KILLED HIM.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Blessed Saint Barack removed all US troops from Iraq, praise be, Barack. That's the lie, right? The damn media lie that so many whores pretending to be journalists repeat? Well if Barack removed them all at the end of 2011, poor Matthew Harless must have been forced to walk home from Iraq. How else to explain his arrival home on July 4th?
The obvious way, Barack didn't remove all troops and at this late date you have to be an idiot in the news industry to pretend that he did. Jed Gamber (WITI) has the video of Army Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Harless surprising his family by returning home last week -- they were surprised because they didn't know he was back and also because his original deployment required that he stay in Iraq another two months. Barack did not remove all troops. He got to tell that lie in the debates, he lies about it every damn day and the pathetic press in the United States lets him get away with it over and over, aids and abets him in the deception. Not only did all not leave at the end of 2011, he's also begun sending more back in. We'll go into that more later in the snapshot but considering how pervasive the lie has been that all US troops are out of Iraq, we'll open today with link to video of Harless' return.
A very dear friend called me today about a faux documentary. He's an award winning investigative reporter of many years. I always say, "He does the hard job, not the herd job." He's not running after the latest water cooler topic. He's doing a job that really matters. So he's upset about this piece of crap documentary -- radio documentary. He calls it self-indulgent and notes that it is "all 'I' and 'me' and totally fact-free." I say back, "Why am I picturing Kelly McEvers?" He laughs and says it is Kelly.
What an embarrassment.
Heaven save us all from this crap put out by Transom.org "A Showcase & Workshop for New Public Radio." If this is "New Public Radio," the big news is public radio has found a way to be even worse than it currently is.
"Diary of a Bad Year: A War Correspondent's Dilemma" ("by Kelly McEvers with Jay Allison") is not only indulgent -- self-indulgent to the extreme -- it's not only offensives and sexist (yes, it's very sexist though Kelly will claim talking about her daughter was about 'letting it all hang out' -- you're a reporter, it's not supposed to all hang out, buy some emotional spankx and keep those inner thoughts and feelings packed in tight), it's one damn lie after another.
At one point, after Kelly flees Syria (or Syria-adjacent) for Yemen to avoid attending Anthony Shadid's funeral (she 'knows' he would want her to go cover Yemen), and after War Hawk Marie Colvin dies, as Kelly babbles on about "the tribe" and other nonsense that makes it sound like she's on a shroom trip because she didn't know anyone who could score her some peyote, she starts damning the news consumers, the entire world population, because Shadid and Colvin are dead and this hasn't made the people demand that Syria be addressed.
Someone slap Kelly to help her down from her high.
Syria doesn't need foreign troops. That's my opinion and the opinion of many. When NPR let Kelly report on Syria, they should have ensured that her goal was to report, not to start a war.
NPR did allow Kelly to 'report' on Syria from Beruit (Lebanon). Ava and I called it out repeatedly. Such as here:
It's her reporting on Syria that's destroyed her reputation, as each day seems to find her filing yet another breathless report of the violence being witnessed in Syria, the outrageous violence, the deaths, the destruction . . . All of which she observes from Beirut. (That's in Lebanaon for those not familiar with the MidEast and, no, Lebanaon is not in Syria, it is its own country which, like Iraq, shares a border with Syria.)
Sometimes, after dispensing 'facts' on bombings and deaths and shootings, 'reporter' Kelly will add something like "the activists and witnesses and citizen journalists who we talk to on a regular basis" tell her this is what is taking place. Such a statement -- not always included -- will usually pass quickly. And no one will question whether her sources are one-sided (they certainly sound one-sided). Last week, when she was 'reporting' on rockets destroying a neighborhood and a hospital (unverifiable claims on her part) this exchange did take place:
INSKEEP: Now, Kelly, we should be clear: Few, if any, journalists are inside Homs, or in any of the contested areas in Syria. We're getting information from activists here. How confident are you of the picture that's emerging, of what's happening in Syria right now?
MCEVERS: It is so difficult to verify the numbers. And over the weekend, we saw that there were discrepancies about how many, exactly, had died in some of these government offensives. You had one activist group saying it was over 300. Another activist group saying no, it was only 60. And without being able to go there ourselves and verify it and see it with our own eyes, it's very difficult.
It's very difficult? We'd say it's impossible. And when the administration is pounding the war drums on Syria, we'd say the last thing the US needs is 'reporters' 'reporting' on something they can't verify with their own eyes. Speaking to people with vested interests and basing your report on that? Not only is that not objective journalism, it doesn't even rise to the level of news reporting. At best, it's a feature article -- a lighter category.
But nearly every day, there's Kelly on Morning Edition (or All Things Considered), breathless and insisting that violence is taking place all around her . . . Well, she watches some streams online from her echo chamber inner circle -- apparently while preparing meals based upon what she declared on Morning Edition last week. Is she doubling as a Sous-Chef at Chez Sami?
Ava and my critique above? Published February 12, 2012. A month and four days before Anthony Shadid died. A month and ten days before Colvin died. What's the title of that piece Ava and I wrote? "No One Gets Out Alive."
Nothing that happened after we wrote that piece was surprising, nor should it have been surprising before we wrote it.
Here's reality: Anthony Shadid is not dead today because of an asthma attack.
Anthony Shadid is dead today because of his own actions which include bailing on the Iraqi people. Yeah, I said it. Going to Syria didn't mean he deserved to die. But stop pretending that this was the sign of a great reporter. No, it was the sign of a dabbler and he wasn't the only one. Dropping coverage of what was taking place in Iraq in order to rush off to cover Syria and get a fresh war high.
Apparently in need of more awards and not feeling Iraq would produce them, the former Washington Post journalist who had moved over (with his wife) to the New York Times and was assigned to cover Iraq decided to up and leave Iraq and go to Syria.
That's real sweet, isn't it? How lucky he was that Iraq had ceased to have problems, right?
Oh, wait, Iraq was and is an ongoing tragedy, a world crime aided and abetted by an active press that wanted -- as Kelly let's slip that she wanted to with Syria -- to start a war.
What's really cute is listening to Kelly pour on the drama. I love it when she's crying and pretending like she's talking to someone on the cell phone as she dictates her juvenile audio diary. It's so perfectly stupid, so totally self-involved and the xenophobia still manages to waft over in that moment.
It's cute to listen to her babble on throughout the special, crying in her microphone about her "tribe" and her never grasping that she's an embarrassment and a racist.
See, British Marie is part of her tribe, American Anthony is part of her tribe, but what of the Iraqis?
From 2003 to 2009, the Committee To Protect Journalists notes that 117 Iraqi journalists died from violent attacks. They're apparently not part of the 'tribe.' Last April, Dahr Jamail (Al Jazeera) explained:
By 2010 Reporters Without Borders had recorded the deaths of 230 media professionals, 87 per cent of which were Iraqis. The infamous day when [Tareq] Ayoub was killed along with the two Reuters' cameramen unfortunately became a warning of what was to come for journalists working in Iraq. As high as both the CPJ and Reporters Without Borders tallies are, another group, the Brussells Tribunal, closely tracked Iraqi media worker deaths in detail, and provides a detailed account of each death, concluding with the current total number of 382 journalist and media worker deaths when combining Iraqi and non-Iraqi. However, Iraq's impunity rate, or the degree to which perpetrators have escaped prosecution for killing journalists, is the worst in the world at 100 per cent. Even today, as Iraq has moved beyond the US conflict, both Iraqi and US governmental authorities have shown no interest in investigating these murders.
None of those murdered journalists are mentioned. In a 'special' about reporting. They don't get to be part of Kelly's 'tribe.' It's called racism. Most people today are smart enough not to use a derogatory word to signal their racism. So what you're left with are their actions and their remarks. Kelly repeatedly explains how important this death and that death and this tribe member and that tribe member is and was. She can reach back years to include some. But none of them are Iraqis.
February 8, 2011, Kelly reported (NPR's Morning Edition) on how Iraqi journalist Hadi al-Mahdi had been abducted from a Baghdad cafe by Nouri's forces (abducted along with other journalists) and tortured. September 8, 2011, Hadi was assassinated in his home. Assassinated by a person or persons smart enough to have turned off the neighborhood video camera that would have caught the assassin or assassins on tape. Assassinated by a person whom Hadi trusted enough to let into his home and to serve tea to. And Kelly was off with the so-called 'rebels' of The Free Syrian Army.
In all her time advocating on behalf of The Free Syrian Army and passing this advocacy off as 'reporting,' Kelly never managed to offer a realistic view of her charming buddies. August 3, 2012, Hannah Allam and Austin Tice (McClatchy Newspapers) reported:
The issue of rebel conduct has come to the forefront this month largely because of a video posted online showing the aftermath of apparent executions of pro-Assad militiamen during the rebels’ capture of an intelligence center in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.
A reporter for the Turkish newspaper Milliyet witnessed the incident Tuesday and confirmed in a first-person account the circumstances of the killings: More than a dozen men were captured alive and then summarily executed in what advocacy group Human Rights Watch called an apparent “war crime.”
The men “were forced into a building, then brought before a court of the Free Syrian Army on the back of a pickup truck, after which they were lined up and shot at lightning speed,” the Milliyet reporter wrote.
The incident doesn’t appear to be isolated, either. A McClatchy reporter traveling with a unit of the Free Syrian Army was told that rebels had captured about 45 Assad loyalists in fighting in Al Tal, north of Damascus. Asked later what had become of the prisoners, a rebel said eight had been executed, 25 had been released and the rest were being held in hopes of a future prisoner exchange.
Hey, remember the 'report' where Kelly cried on microphone for her 'dear friend' with The Free Syrian Army who had just died? Kelly does a lot of whimpering, most of it ill or uninformed.
No ethical boundary or fact has ever constrained Kelly from serving up her emotional outbursts passed off as reporting.
She is paid to be objective and unbiased but her 'reporting' on Syria made clear that she was no such thing. She was one-sided and it was always in favor of the 'poor' 'rebels.' She admits she wanted US troops on the ground in Syria -- admits that in her little documentary. NPR should be appalled by the documentary, McEvers should be ashamed of how far she will go in her attempt to sell a war, that's she's so quick to turn herself into a one-woman William Randolph Hearst.
But the major problem is -- and remains -- that 'reporters' were allowed to leave Iraq. The US press sold the illegal war. They should never, ever be allowed to leave Iraq. They should always have a ton of reporters present. Instead, they're no better than a con artist at a bad used car lot. They sold it, when it broke down, they didn't want to know. They did just enough to get it going and off the lot and then they were focusing on other things.
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"THIS JUST IN! WHEN THE PRETTY'S GONE!"
A JUDGE YESTERDAY STATED THAT SHE COULD NOT STOP THE FORCE-FEEDING OF THE PRISONERS AT THE GUANTANAMO CONCENTRATION CAMP BUT THAT CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O COULD.
SHE ACTUALLY COULD HAVE DONE MORE.
SHE COULD HAVE SENTENCED BARRY O TO BE FORCE-FED HIS OWN EGO. THEN AGAIN, CONSIDERING HOW BIG HIS EGO IS, SUCH A PUNISHMENT COULD HAVE KILLED HIM.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Blessed Saint Barack removed all US troops from Iraq, praise be, Barack. That's the lie, right? The damn media lie that so many whores pretending to be journalists repeat? Well if Barack removed them all at the end of 2011, poor Matthew Harless must have been forced to walk home from Iraq. How else to explain his arrival home on July 4th?
The obvious way, Barack didn't remove all troops and at this late date you have to be an idiot in the news industry to pretend that he did. Jed Gamber (WITI) has the video of Army Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Harless surprising his family by returning home last week -- they were surprised because they didn't know he was back and also because his original deployment required that he stay in Iraq another two months. Barack did not remove all troops. He got to tell that lie in the debates, he lies about it every damn day and the pathetic press in the United States lets him get away with it over and over, aids and abets him in the deception. Not only did all not leave at the end of 2011, he's also begun sending more back in. We'll go into that more later in the snapshot but considering how pervasive the lie has been that all US troops are out of Iraq, we'll open today with link to video of Harless' return.
A very dear friend called me today about a faux documentary. He's an award winning investigative reporter of many years. I always say, "He does the hard job, not the herd job." He's not running after the latest water cooler topic. He's doing a job that really matters. So he's upset about this piece of crap documentary -- radio documentary. He calls it self-indulgent and notes that it is "all 'I' and 'me' and totally fact-free." I say back, "Why am I picturing Kelly McEvers?" He laughs and says it is Kelly.
What an embarrassment.
Heaven save us all from this crap put out by Transom.org "A Showcase & Workshop for New Public Radio." If this is "New Public Radio," the big news is public radio has found a way to be even worse than it currently is.
"Diary of a Bad Year: A War Correspondent's Dilemma" ("by Kelly McEvers with Jay Allison") is not only indulgent -- self-indulgent to the extreme -- it's not only offensives and sexist (yes, it's very sexist though Kelly will claim talking about her daughter was about 'letting it all hang out' -- you're a reporter, it's not supposed to all hang out, buy some emotional spankx and keep those inner thoughts and feelings packed in tight), it's one damn lie after another.
At one point, after Kelly flees Syria (or Syria-adjacent) for Yemen to avoid attending Anthony Shadid's funeral (she 'knows' he would want her to go cover Yemen), and after War Hawk Marie Colvin dies, as Kelly babbles on about "the tribe" and other nonsense that makes it sound like she's on a shroom trip because she didn't know anyone who could score her some peyote, she starts damning the news consumers, the entire world population, because Shadid and Colvin are dead and this hasn't made the people demand that Syria be addressed.
Someone slap Kelly to help her down from her high.
Syria doesn't need foreign troops. That's my opinion and the opinion of many. When NPR let Kelly report on Syria, they should have ensured that her goal was to report, not to start a war.
NPR did allow Kelly to 'report' on Syria from Beruit (Lebanon). Ava and I called it out repeatedly. Such as here:
It's her reporting on Syria that's destroyed her reputation, as each day seems to find her filing yet another breathless report of the violence being witnessed in Syria, the outrageous violence, the deaths, the destruction . . . All of which she observes from Beirut. (That's in Lebanaon for those not familiar with the MidEast and, no, Lebanaon is not in Syria, it is its own country which, like Iraq, shares a border with Syria.)
Sometimes, after dispensing 'facts' on bombings and deaths and shootings, 'reporter' Kelly will add something like "the activists and witnesses and citizen journalists who we talk to on a regular basis" tell her this is what is taking place. Such a statement -- not always included -- will usually pass quickly. And no one will question whether her sources are one-sided (they certainly sound one-sided). Last week, when she was 'reporting' on rockets destroying a neighborhood and a hospital (unverifiable claims on her part) this exchange did take place:
INSKEEP: Now, Kelly, we should be clear: Few, if any, journalists are inside Homs, or in any of the contested areas in Syria. We're getting information from activists here. How confident are you of the picture that's emerging, of what's happening in Syria right now?
MCEVERS: It is so difficult to verify the numbers. And over the weekend, we saw that there were discrepancies about how many, exactly, had died in some of these government offensives. You had one activist group saying it was over 300. Another activist group saying no, it was only 60. And without being able to go there ourselves and verify it and see it with our own eyes, it's very difficult.
It's very difficult? We'd say it's impossible. And when the administration is pounding the war drums on Syria, we'd say the last thing the US needs is 'reporters' 'reporting' on something they can't verify with their own eyes. Speaking to people with vested interests and basing your report on that? Not only is that not objective journalism, it doesn't even rise to the level of news reporting. At best, it's a feature article -- a lighter category.
But nearly every day, there's Kelly on Morning Edition (or All Things Considered), breathless and insisting that violence is taking place all around her . . . Well, she watches some streams online from her echo chamber inner circle -- apparently while preparing meals based upon what she declared on Morning Edition last week. Is she doubling as a Sous-Chef at Chez Sami?
Ava and my critique above? Published February 12, 2012. A month and four days before Anthony Shadid died. A month and ten days before Colvin died. What's the title of that piece Ava and I wrote? "No One Gets Out Alive."
Nothing that happened after we wrote that piece was surprising, nor should it have been surprising before we wrote it.
Here's reality: Anthony Shadid is not dead today because of an asthma attack.
Anthony Shadid is dead today because of his own actions which include bailing on the Iraqi people. Yeah, I said it. Going to Syria didn't mean he deserved to die. But stop pretending that this was the sign of a great reporter. No, it was the sign of a dabbler and he wasn't the only one. Dropping coverage of what was taking place in Iraq in order to rush off to cover Syria and get a fresh war high.
Apparently in need of more awards and not feeling Iraq would produce them, the former Washington Post journalist who had moved over (with his wife) to the New York Times and was assigned to cover Iraq decided to up and leave Iraq and go to Syria.
That's real sweet, isn't it? How lucky he was that Iraq had ceased to have problems, right?
Oh, wait, Iraq was and is an ongoing tragedy, a world crime aided and abetted by an active press that wanted -- as Kelly let's slip that she wanted to with Syria -- to start a war.
What's really cute is listening to Kelly pour on the drama. I love it when she's crying and pretending like she's talking to someone on the cell phone as she dictates her juvenile audio diary. It's so perfectly stupid, so totally self-involved and the xenophobia still manages to waft over in that moment.
It's cute to listen to her babble on throughout the special, crying in her microphone about her "tribe" and her never grasping that she's an embarrassment and a racist.
See, British Marie is part of her tribe, American Anthony is part of her tribe, but what of the Iraqis?
From 2003 to 2009, the Committee To Protect Journalists notes that 117 Iraqi journalists died from violent attacks. They're apparently not part of the 'tribe.' Last April, Dahr Jamail (Al Jazeera) explained:
By 2010 Reporters Without Borders had recorded the deaths of 230 media professionals, 87 per cent of which were Iraqis. The infamous day when [Tareq] Ayoub was killed along with the two Reuters' cameramen unfortunately became a warning of what was to come for journalists working in Iraq. As high as both the CPJ and Reporters Without Borders tallies are, another group, the Brussells Tribunal, closely tracked Iraqi media worker deaths in detail, and provides a detailed account of each death, concluding with the current total number of 382 journalist and media worker deaths when combining Iraqi and non-Iraqi. However, Iraq's impunity rate, or the degree to which perpetrators have escaped prosecution for killing journalists, is the worst in the world at 100 per cent. Even today, as Iraq has moved beyond the US conflict, both Iraqi and US governmental authorities have shown no interest in investigating these murders.
None of those murdered journalists are mentioned. In a 'special' about reporting. They don't get to be part of Kelly's 'tribe.' It's called racism. Most people today are smart enough not to use a derogatory word to signal their racism. So what you're left with are their actions and their remarks. Kelly repeatedly explains how important this death and that death and this tribe member and that tribe member is and was. She can reach back years to include some. But none of them are Iraqis.
February 8, 2011, Kelly reported (NPR's Morning Edition) on how Iraqi journalist Hadi al-Mahdi had been abducted from a Baghdad cafe by Nouri's forces (abducted along with other journalists) and tortured. September 8, 2011, Hadi was assassinated in his home. Assassinated by a person or persons smart enough to have turned off the neighborhood video camera that would have caught the assassin or assassins on tape. Assassinated by a person whom Hadi trusted enough to let into his home and to serve tea to. And Kelly was off with the so-called 'rebels' of The Free Syrian Army.
In all her time advocating on behalf of The Free Syrian Army and passing this advocacy off as 'reporting,' Kelly never managed to offer a realistic view of her charming buddies. August 3, 2012, Hannah Allam and Austin Tice (McClatchy Newspapers) reported:
The issue of rebel conduct has come to the forefront this month largely because of a video posted online showing the aftermath of apparent executions of pro-Assad militiamen during the rebels’ capture of an intelligence center in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.
A reporter for the Turkish newspaper Milliyet witnessed the incident Tuesday and confirmed in a first-person account the circumstances of the killings: More than a dozen men were captured alive and then summarily executed in what advocacy group Human Rights Watch called an apparent “war crime.”
The men “were forced into a building, then brought before a court of the Free Syrian Army on the back of a pickup truck, after which they were lined up and shot at lightning speed,” the Milliyet reporter wrote.
The incident doesn’t appear to be isolated, either. A McClatchy reporter traveling with a unit of the Free Syrian Army was told that rebels had captured about 45 Assad loyalists in fighting in Al Tal, north of Damascus. Asked later what had become of the prisoners, a rebel said eight had been executed, 25 had been released and the rest were being held in hopes of a future prisoner exchange.
Hey, remember the 'report' where Kelly cried on microphone for her 'dear friend' with The Free Syrian Army who had just died? Kelly does a lot of whimpering, most of it ill or uninformed.
No ethical boundary or fact has ever constrained Kelly from serving up her emotional outbursts passed off as reporting.
She is paid to be objective and unbiased but her 'reporting' on Syria made clear that she was no such thing. She was one-sided and it was always in favor of the 'poor' 'rebels.' She admits she wanted US troops on the ground in Syria -- admits that in her little documentary. NPR should be appalled by the documentary, McEvers should be ashamed of how far she will go in her attempt to sell a war, that's she's so quick to turn herself into a one-woman William Randolph Hearst.
But the major problem is -- and remains -- that 'reporters' were allowed to leave Iraq. The US press sold the illegal war. They should never, ever be allowed to leave Iraq. They should always have a ton of reporters present. Instead, they're no better than a con artist at a bad used car lot. They sold it, when it broke down, they didn't want to know. They did just enough to get it going and off the lot and then they were focusing on other things.
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"THIS JUST IN! WHEN THE PRETTY'S GONE!"
Saturday, July 06, 2013
THIS JUST IN! WHEN THE PRETTY'S GONE!
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
FILM QUEEN BOBBY REDFORD CONTINUES HIS PRAISE OF CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O.
AND HE DOES SO AS THE REVELATIONS OF BARRY O'S VAST SPYING ON AMERICANS CONTINUES TO LEAK OUT. IN OTHER WORDS, IN 1975, THE FILM QUEEN PLAYED A MAN INTENT ON EXPOSING A PRESIDENT'S ABUSES BUT TODAY, IN HIS ERECTILEY FUTILE OLD AGE, QUEEN BOBBY REDFORD EXISTS TO COVER UP FOR A PRESIDENT'S ABUSES.
REACHED FOR COMMENT, QUEEN BOBBY TOLD THESE REPORTERS HIS 2 GREATEST REGRETS WERE "NEVER HAVING POSED NUDE BEFORE EVERYTHING FELL AND NEVER HAVING SLEPT WITH TRICKY DICK NIXON -- WITH A NAME LIKE TRICKY DICK, YOU JUST KNOW HE HAD TO PACK A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA."
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Since December 21st, Fridays in Iraq have meant protests. The actions have been going on now for over six months. The western media has largely ignored the attacks. That happened again today as many outlets -- including the BBC -- wrote about 'big violence' that was only two more dead than an attack on the protesters. But western outlets like the BBC ignored the bombing targeting the protesters. This happens every week. You'd think six months of dedication on the part of the Iraqi people would translate into coverage but the western media's not interested in Iraq.
Today saw protesters stand up yet again. Iraqi Spring MC notes people turned out in Falluja, in Baiji, in Samarra, and in Ramadi (where Nouri's SWAT forces were out in full force and arrested some attempting to protest). Falluja, Al Mada reports, is where speakers announced that the government thinks the observation of the month of Ramadan will disrupt the protests but the protesters and their will will not be broken.
The protesters were attacked most obviously in Sammara. Iraqi Spring MC Tweeted about what took place:
#الربيع_العراقي: حسب شهود عيان السيارة كان يقودها احد عناصر القوات الحكومية وكان يروم ركنها لكنها انفجرت به pic.twitter.com/lBbzUvDt9D
That's the remains of a car bombing that targeted Samarra's protest today and the Tweet notes that eye witnesses saw one of Nouri's forces in the car. Pakistan's Daily Times notes, "The bomber wore an army uniform, police said."
Alsumaria reports that the preachers in the province (Salahuddin) are saying that the security failed the protesters. All Iraq News reports that 12 people are dead from the Samarra bombing and another nineteen are injured. NINA notes the Motahidoon Alliance denounced the attack on the sit-in and termed the attack, "continuation of the attempts to silence the voices opposing the Government's unjust and forceful trend. [. . . ] The peoples' will cannot be defeated, and the martyres' blood is a force that keeps the protestors moving to the end of the road of reform." The Motahidoon Alliance is part of Iraqiya and it is led by Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi. Kareem Raheem and Janet Lawrence (Reuters) report :
Protest organiser Adnan Al-Muhanna called on Sunnis to take to the streets daily and follow the example of Egyptians.
Egypt's first freely elected president Mohamed Mursi was toppled on Wednesday after the army intervened following mass demonstrations against his rule, a year after the Islamist was sworn into office.
"Demonstrations can make the change. Neither elections nor weapons can do that," Muhanna said. "Within one year, the Egyptians changed the Mursi regime through demonstrations because they were well-organized."
In other violence, NINA notes police shot 2 suspects dead in Hawija, a Kut car bombing claimed 1 life and left seventeen injured, an armed attack to the south of Falluja left two people injured, and armed attack in Falluja left 1 Iraqi soldier dead and another injured as well as one police officer injured. Mu Xuequan (Xinhua) reports, "The deadliest attack was in the Qurait area in northern Baghdad, where 14 people were killed and 31 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a Shi'ite mosque during the evening pray, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity." Reuters states that the suicide bomber was a woman. In addition, NINA notes a Baghdad car bombing claimed 1 life and left nine more people injured.
Yesterday saw at least 14 deaths and at least thirty-four injured. Three of the dead? Doctors killed in Baghdad.
All Iraq News noted that the Parliament's Health and Environment Committee "discussed several amendments on Physicians Protection Law preparing for a vote to be endorsed by Parliament." Alsumaria added that Moqtada al-Sadr declared these attacks cannot be allowed, called for an immediate investigation into the attacks on the three doctors and declared that Iraq cannot allow the hands of terrorism to target and impair the medical community." If you missed it, recent violence has required Iraq to utilize hospitals in other countries. The "brain drain" in the early years of the war has not been repaired and has left Iraq without a sufficient number of medical providers. Nouri's been prime minister for seven years now. Why the hell he didn't implement fast track programs of training is a question the Iraqi people should be demanding answers to. Instead, he continues to try to pad out Iraq's medical community by importing nurses from other countries. At a time when Iraqis face massive unemployment and with all the billions Iraq sits on, there was plenty of time, plenty of people to start up a nursing program that could have turned out LVNs and RNs very quickly and had them working in the hospitals instead of importing nurses into the country.
Iraq can't afford more violence aimed at doctors. That's what Moqtada's smart enough to grasp although it escapes Nouri. A second brain drain is possible. Violence is again increasing in Iraq. Today, 3 doctors were killed in Baghdad. This is the sort of thing that can lead to a panic. If you're a doctor in Iraq and you've told yourself things will get better, you've said you want to honor the Iraqi people and you've stayed? The violence has never ended and at some point -- when doctors are being targeted again -- you have to ask yourself exactly how much longer you can wait for the violence to end? For some, it won't take much to push them out of Iraq at this point.
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"THIS JUST IN! HE CAN'T ACT HIS AGE!"
FILM QUEEN BOBBY REDFORD CONTINUES HIS PRAISE OF CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O.
AND HE DOES SO AS THE REVELATIONS OF BARRY O'S VAST SPYING ON AMERICANS CONTINUES TO LEAK OUT. IN OTHER WORDS, IN 1975, THE FILM QUEEN PLAYED A MAN INTENT ON EXPOSING A PRESIDENT'S ABUSES BUT TODAY, IN HIS ERECTILEY FUTILE OLD AGE, QUEEN BOBBY REDFORD EXISTS TO COVER UP FOR A PRESIDENT'S ABUSES.
REACHED FOR COMMENT, QUEEN BOBBY TOLD THESE REPORTERS HIS 2 GREATEST REGRETS WERE "NEVER HAVING POSED NUDE BEFORE EVERYTHING FELL AND NEVER HAVING SLEPT WITH TRICKY DICK NIXON -- WITH A NAME LIKE TRICKY DICK, YOU JUST KNOW HE HAD TO PACK A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA."
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Since December 21st, Fridays in Iraq have meant protests. The actions have been going on now for over six months. The western media has largely ignored the attacks. That happened again today as many outlets -- including the BBC -- wrote about 'big violence' that was only two more dead than an attack on the protesters. But western outlets like the BBC ignored the bombing targeting the protesters. This happens every week. You'd think six months of dedication on the part of the Iraqi people would translate into coverage but the western media's not interested in Iraq.
Today saw protesters stand up yet again. Iraqi Spring MC notes people turned out in Falluja, in Baiji, in Samarra, and in Ramadi (where Nouri's SWAT forces were out in full force and arrested some attempting to protest). Falluja, Al Mada reports, is where speakers announced that the government thinks the observation of the month of Ramadan will disrupt the protests but the protesters and their will will not be broken.
The protesters were attacked most obviously in Sammara. Iraqi Spring MC Tweeted about what took place:
اعلام الربيع العراقي
That's the remains of a car bombing that targeted Samarra's protest today and the Tweet notes that eye witnesses saw one of Nouri's forces in the car. Pakistan's Daily Times notes, "The bomber wore an army uniform, police said."
Alsumaria reports that the preachers in the province (Salahuddin) are saying that the security failed the protesters. All Iraq News reports that 12 people are dead from the Samarra bombing and another nineteen are injured. NINA notes the Motahidoon Alliance denounced the attack on the sit-in and termed the attack, "continuation of the attempts to silence the voices opposing the Government's unjust and forceful trend. [. . . ] The peoples' will cannot be defeated, and the martyres' blood is a force that keeps the protestors moving to the end of the road of reform." The Motahidoon Alliance is part of Iraqiya and it is led by Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi. Kareem Raheem and Janet Lawrence (Reuters) report :
Protest organiser Adnan Al-Muhanna called on Sunnis to take to the streets daily and follow the example of Egyptians.
Egypt's first freely elected president Mohamed Mursi was toppled on Wednesday after the army intervened following mass demonstrations against his rule, a year after the Islamist was sworn into office.
"Demonstrations can make the change. Neither elections nor weapons can do that," Muhanna said. "Within one year, the Egyptians changed the Mursi regime through demonstrations because they were well-organized."
In other violence, NINA notes police shot 2 suspects dead in Hawija, a Kut car bombing claimed 1 life and left seventeen injured, an armed attack to the south of Falluja left two people injured, and armed attack in Falluja left 1 Iraqi soldier dead and another injured as well as one police officer injured. Mu Xuequan (Xinhua) reports, "The deadliest attack was in the Qurait area in northern Baghdad, where 14 people were killed and 31 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a Shi'ite mosque during the evening pray, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity." Reuters states that the suicide bomber was a woman. In addition, NINA notes a Baghdad car bombing claimed 1 life and left nine more people injured.
Yesterday saw at least 14 deaths and at least thirty-four injured. Three of the dead? Doctors killed in Baghdad.
All Iraq News noted that the Parliament's Health and Environment Committee "discussed several amendments on Physicians Protection Law preparing for a vote to be endorsed by Parliament." Alsumaria added that Moqtada al-Sadr declared these attacks cannot be allowed, called for an immediate investigation into the attacks on the three doctors and declared that Iraq cannot allow the hands of terrorism to target and impair the medical community." If you missed it, recent violence has required Iraq to utilize hospitals in other countries. The "brain drain" in the early years of the war has not been repaired and has left Iraq without a sufficient number of medical providers. Nouri's been prime minister for seven years now. Why the hell he didn't implement fast track programs of training is a question the Iraqi people should be demanding answers to. Instead, he continues to try to pad out Iraq's medical community by importing nurses from other countries. At a time when Iraqis face massive unemployment and with all the billions Iraq sits on, there was plenty of time, plenty of people to start up a nursing program that could have turned out LVNs and RNs very quickly and had them working in the hospitals instead of importing nurses into the country.
Iraq can't afford more violence aimed at doctors. That's what Moqtada's smart enough to grasp although it escapes Nouri. A second brain drain is possible. Violence is again increasing in Iraq. Today, 3 doctors were killed in Baghdad. This is the sort of thing that can lead to a panic. If you're a doctor in Iraq and you've told yourself things will get better, you've said you want to honor the Iraqi people and you've stayed? The violence has never ended and at some point -- when doctors are being targeted again -- you have to ask yourself exactly how much longer you can wait for the violence to end? For some, it won't take much to push them out of Iraq at this point.
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Friday, July 05, 2013
THIS JUST IN! HE CAN'T ACT HIS AGE!
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
GERIATRIC QUEENS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY ARE REJOICING AS ONE OF THEIR OWN PRAISES CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O.
ROBERT REDFORD, WHO NEVER HAD THE SENSE TO REALIZE HIS FILM ACTING CAREER DIED WITH LEGAL EAGLES AND WILL NEVER BE COMING BACK, IS SLOBBERING OVER BARRY O YET AGAIN.
BARRY O'S DONE NOTHING TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT AND REDFORD'S EMBARRASSING AND CONSTANT PRAISE OF BARRY O IS AS LAUGHABLE AS THAT CHEAP AND OBVIOUS RUG ON TOP OF REDFORD'S HEAD.
A 76-YEAR-OLD BLONDE, WHAT A LAUGH.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Let's start by dipping into the archives to give someone credit for being right:
Last night on The NewsHour (PBS -- link has text, video and audio options), Margaret Warner moderated a discussion on the latest trades and deals between Meghan O'Sullivan who served in the Bully Boy Bush administration and Feisal Istrabadi who was Iraq's Deputy Ambassador to the UN (2004 - 2007). Excerpt:
That's from the November 12, 2010 snapshot so "last night" was the November 11, 2010 broadcast of The NewsHour. Let's note one more time Feisal Istrabadi's remarks.
On the first two days of July, Iraq Body Count counts 102 violent deaths. AFP adds that 320 have been injured. Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) reminds, "The UN has released its estimate on deaths in Iraq for the month of June as 761, somewhat below the May toll of over 1,000, but still well above the toll of April, and the worst June since at least 2008." The United Nations adds, "In a report issued last week, UNAMI said that at least 3,200 civilians were killed and more than 10,000 injured in during the second half of 2012 in a reversal of the trend that had seen violence decline in recent years."
Again from November of 2010:
Violence continues today in Iraq. National Iraqi News Agency reports a roadside bombing north of Baghdad has claimed the lives of 2 Sahwa and left five more injured, a Tikrit roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left two more injured, another Tikrit bombing has claimed 1 life and left another person injured, a Falluja armed attack has left three people injured, and a Baquba sticky bombing injured one person. All Iraq News notes a Mosul bombing has left two people injured, another Baquba bombing left five people injured, and the corpse of a 2-year-old child was discovered in Diwaniya -- dead from gunshots to the head. Alsumaria adds that a Mosul suicide bomber targeted military headquarters and claimed the lives of 4 Iraqi soldiers and twelve more were left injured. Press TV, BBC News and AFP report a Baghdad bombing (southwest Baghdad, Nahrawan) which has claimed 7 lives and left fourteen people injured. Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) also reports the Baghdad bombing and notes that, in addition, 3 corpses (gunshot wounds) have been discovered in Baghdad. Over 12 hours ago, that was the reported violence: 19 reported deaths and 45 injured.
But the violence didn't end there. NINA notes 1 police officer was shot dead in Falluja by assailants on motorcycles, a Mosul car bombing killed 1 man on what should have been a special day -- his wedding -- his bride-to-be was injured as were twelve of their wedding guests, Sahwa Captain Ali Mohammed Lahbib was shot dead to the east of Falluja today, a Mosul suicide bomber claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi military members and left three more injured, a machine gun attack on a Falluja police checkpoint left one police officer injured, and a Falluja bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left a bystander injured. All Iraq News adds a Tikrit bombing claimed the lives of 2 Sahwa and left three more injured. That's 8 more deaths and 21 more injured -- day total of 27 dead and 66 injured.
Today the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq issued the following:
Baghdad, 3 July 2013 – The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Martin Kobler, condemned in the strongest possible terms the wave of attacks that claimed dozens of lives across Iraq yesterday. كوردى
“These devastating terrorist attacks once again targeted innocent citizens going about their daily activities, struggling to build a more hopeful future for themselves and their children in a highly volatile environment,” the UN Envoy said. “They follow two weeks during which we’ve seen an increasing number of attacks targeting cafés, football fields and other locations where people socialize and nurture the personal relationships and social fabric that are so important for a strong, prosperous country.”
“I once again urge the Iraqi authorities to do their utmost and take all necessary measures to protect the people of Iraq from more bloodshed,” he added. “This carnage must stop.”
Mr. Kobler extended his sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wishes for a speedy recovery to those who were wounded.
Martin Kobler's really good about these generic statements. But who could be considered responsible for the violence? Let's quote it one more time:
"Secondly, I'm one of the few people of Arab descent -- few people of Arab-Americans and activists -- who has always supported Kurdish self-determination." Beware anyone making such a claim. Anyone so self-involved and so stupid that he thinks he can get away with that claim. The idiot in question? James Zogby. Kurds beware as he makes that statement right before attempting to tell the Kurds that they need to back off certain goals and certain deals having to do with oil and "a Kurdish independent move." He's a whore, he's a cheap whore.
The Zogby family's idiot polling has been a joke among pollsters for years. That's because it's always been a hybrid and a questionable sample. It's also because the polls tended to lean towards Democratic Party goals -- not left goals, Democratic Party goals -- not rank and file Democrat goals, leadership goals. Why would the polling match up so closely with what leaders wanted -- especially when Gallup and others didn't match up? Who knows? But one thing that might have helped answer the question was the reality that James Zogby was on the Democratic Party's Executive Committee -- a fact rarely reported and one he doesn't tend to disclose in on air appearances.
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"THIS JUST IN! BARRY O WASTES MORE TAX DOLLARS!"
GERIATRIC QUEENS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY ARE REJOICING AS ONE OF THEIR OWN PRAISES CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O.
ROBERT REDFORD, WHO NEVER HAD THE SENSE TO REALIZE HIS FILM ACTING CAREER DIED WITH LEGAL EAGLES AND WILL NEVER BE COMING BACK, IS SLOBBERING OVER BARRY O YET AGAIN.
BARRY O'S DONE NOTHING TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT AND REDFORD'S EMBARRASSING AND CONSTANT PRAISE OF BARRY O IS AS LAUGHABLE AS THAT CHEAP AND OBVIOUS RUG ON TOP OF REDFORD'S HEAD.
A 76-YEAR-OLD BLONDE, WHAT A LAUGH.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Let's start by dipping into the archives to give someone credit for being right:
Last night on The NewsHour (PBS -- link has text, video and audio options), Margaret Warner moderated a discussion on the latest trades and deals between Meghan O'Sullivan who served in the Bully Boy Bush administration and Feisal Istrabadi who was Iraq's Deputy Ambassador to the UN (2004 - 2007). Excerpt:
MARGARET
WARNER: Let me just interrupt, and quickly, because I -- before we run
out of time, what is this going to mean for the violence we have been
seeing on the rise in Iraq, Mr. Istrabadi?
FEISAL
ISTRABADI: I don't see any indications that Nouri al-Maliki has the
first idea of what to do about the rising violence. The violence cannot
be dealt with -- and we have been saying this for five years -- the
violence cannot be dealt with merely militarily. There has to be
reconciliation amongst the various factions. Nothing in Nouri
al-Maliki's history indicates that he is prepared to undertake such
reconciliation.
That's from the November 12, 2010 snapshot so "last night" was the November 11, 2010 broadcast of The NewsHour. Let's note one more time Feisal Istrabadi's remarks.
FEISAL
ISTRABADI: I don't see any indications that Nouri al-Maliki has the
first idea of what to do about the rising violence. The violence cannot
be dealt with -- and we have been saying this for five years -- the
violence cannot be dealt with merely militarily. There has to be
reconciliation amongst the various factions. Nothing in Nouri
al-Maliki's history indicates that he is prepared to undertake such
reconciliation.
On the first two days of July, Iraq Body Count counts 102 violent deaths. AFP adds that 320 have been injured. Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) reminds, "The UN has released its estimate on deaths in Iraq for the month of June as 761, somewhat below the May toll of over 1,000, but still well above the toll of April, and the worst June since at least 2008." The United Nations adds, "In a report issued last week, UNAMI said that at least 3,200 civilians were killed and more than 10,000 injured in during the second half of 2012 in a reversal of the trend that had seen violence decline in recent years."
Again from November of 2010:
FEISAL
ISTRABADI: I don't see any indications that Nouri al-Maliki has the
first idea of what to do about the rising violence. The violence cannot
be dealt with -- and we have been saying this for five years -- the
violence cannot be dealt with merely militarily. There has to be
reconciliation amongst the various factions. Nothing in Nouri
al-Maliki's history indicates that he is prepared to undertake such
reconciliation.
Violence continues today in Iraq. National Iraqi News Agency reports a roadside bombing north of Baghdad has claimed the lives of 2 Sahwa and left five more injured, a Tikrit roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left two more injured, another Tikrit bombing has claimed 1 life and left another person injured, a Falluja armed attack has left three people injured, and a Baquba sticky bombing injured one person. All Iraq News notes a Mosul bombing has left two people injured, another Baquba bombing left five people injured, and the corpse of a 2-year-old child was discovered in Diwaniya -- dead from gunshots to the head. Alsumaria adds that a Mosul suicide bomber targeted military headquarters and claimed the lives of 4 Iraqi soldiers and twelve more were left injured. Press TV, BBC News and AFP report a Baghdad bombing (southwest Baghdad, Nahrawan) which has claimed 7 lives and left fourteen people injured. Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) also reports the Baghdad bombing and notes that, in addition, 3 corpses (gunshot wounds) have been discovered in Baghdad. Over 12 hours ago, that was the reported violence: 19 reported deaths and 45 injured.
But the violence didn't end there. NINA notes 1 police officer was shot dead in Falluja by assailants on motorcycles, a Mosul car bombing killed 1 man on what should have been a special day -- his wedding -- his bride-to-be was injured as were twelve of their wedding guests, Sahwa Captain Ali Mohammed Lahbib was shot dead to the east of Falluja today, a Mosul suicide bomber claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi military members and left three more injured, a machine gun attack on a Falluja police checkpoint left one police officer injured, and a Falluja bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left a bystander injured. All Iraq News adds a Tikrit bombing claimed the lives of 2 Sahwa and left three more injured. That's 8 more deaths and 21 more injured -- day total of 27 dead and 66 injured.
Today the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq issued the following:
Baghdad, 3 July 2013 – The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Martin Kobler, condemned in the strongest possible terms the wave of attacks that claimed dozens of lives across Iraq yesterday. كوردى
“These devastating terrorist attacks once again targeted innocent citizens going about their daily activities, struggling to build a more hopeful future for themselves and their children in a highly volatile environment,” the UN Envoy said. “They follow two weeks during which we’ve seen an increasing number of attacks targeting cafés, football fields and other locations where people socialize and nurture the personal relationships and social fabric that are so important for a strong, prosperous country.”
“I once again urge the Iraqi authorities to do their utmost and take all necessary measures to protect the people of Iraq from more bloodshed,” he added. “This carnage must stop.”
Mr. Kobler extended his sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wishes for a speedy recovery to those who were wounded.
Martin Kobler's really good about these generic statements. But who could be considered responsible for the violence? Let's quote it one more time:
FEISAL
ISTRABADI: I don't see any indications that Nouri al-Maliki has the
first idea of what to do about the rising violence. The violence cannot
be dealt with -- and we have been saying this for five years -- the
violence cannot be dealt with merely militarily. There has to be
reconciliation amongst the various factions. Nothing in Nouri
al-Maliki's history indicates that he is prepared to undertake such
reconciliation.
He was right. Nouri wasn't going to help that, he was only going to increase the tensions that encourage the violence.
We'll come back to the violence. But we've noted someone who was right
nearly three years ago. Someone who has been proven right. Let's note
someone else now, someone whose first name should be Falsehood.
"Secondly, I'm one of the few people of Arab descent -- few people of Arab-Americans and activists -- who has always supported Kurdish self-determination." Beware anyone making such a claim. Anyone so self-involved and so stupid that he thinks he can get away with that claim. The idiot in question? James Zogby. Kurds beware as he makes that statement right before attempting to tell the Kurds that they need to back off certain goals and certain deals having to do with oil and "a Kurdish independent move." He's a whore, he's a cheap whore.
The Zogby family's idiot polling has been a joke among pollsters for years. That's because it's always been a hybrid and a questionable sample. It's also because the polls tended to lean towards Democratic Party goals -- not left goals, Democratic Party goals -- not rank and file Democrat goals, leadership goals. Why would the polling match up so closely with what leaders wanted -- especially when Gallup and others didn't match up? Who knows? But one thing that might have helped answer the question was the reality that James Zogby was on the Democratic Party's Executive Committee -- a fact rarely reported and one he doesn't tend to disclose in on air appearances.
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"THIS JUST IN! BARRY O WASTES MORE TAX DOLLARS!"
Wednesday, July 03, 2013
THIS JUST IN! BARRY O WASTES MORE TAX DOLLARS!
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O CONTINUES TO HIDE OUT IN AFRICA TO AVOID HIS DOMESTIC SCANDALS.
IN AFRICA, HE'S PRAISED BULLY BOY BUSH. HE ALSO ANNOUNCED A $5 BILLION INVESTMENT IN AFRICA TO FIX ELECTRICITY.
SO AMERICAN TAX PAYERS ARE FOOTING POSSIBLY $100 MILLION SO BARACK CAN TAKE VARIOUS FAMILY MEMBERS TO AFRICA AND, ON TOP OF THAT, HE'S GIVING AWAY $5 BILLION AT A TIME WHEN AMERICANS ARE LOSING FOOD STAMPS AND BEING TOLD THAT EVERY AMERICAN HAS TO SACRIFICE DUE TO A BUDGET DEFICIT.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
It was not a good day for the US government. The administration looks increasingly incompetent and the US State Dept's becoming a national joke. We'll come back later in the snapshot to the State Dept press briefing but note this remark from AP's Matthew Lee in the midst of the briefing today:
Okay. So let me just do a little quick recap from the most transparent Administration in history. You won’t tell us what you are asking for [Egypitan] President Morsy to do or what you would like to see. The conversations that you have with countries involving [NSA whistle-blower] Mr. Snowden are private and you can’t talk about them. Your conversations with European allies and others about the NSA spying allegations are also private. I don’t know. How would you respond to someone who might say that it appears that the only privacy that this Administration is interested in protecting is its own?
Damning remarks from AP's Matthew Lee. Completely accurate ones, no needed embarrassment for Lee but who the hell is running the US government currently as it spins out of control and veers from one scandal to the next? The incompetence, it's the continued incompetence. Maybe next time, a president doesn't leave the country on an expensive family vacation (look at all the relatives the tax payers paid to go to Africa) when he should be governing. Turning to Iraq . . .
Long before noon in the United States, Iraq had already been slammed with violence. You already had Iraq's National Iraqi News Agency reports the military killed 2 suspects in Mtaibijh, a Mosul roadside bombing left two people injured, another Mosul roadside bombing claimed 2 lives and left a police officer injured, a Falluja roadside bombing injured three people, an armed clash to the west of Mosul left 4 Federal Police and SWAT forces dead and four more injured, a Kirkuk roadside bombing claimed 1 life and left another person injured, and last night a Baquba suicide bomber attacked a cafe leaving 7 people dead and twelve injured. -- last night's bombing has resulted in allegedly tighter security and in "popular cafes in the city of Baquba" closing their doors today. That amounted to 16 dead and twenty-three injured.
But it wasn't news. No US outlet was covering it, the wires weren't covering it. 16 dead just didn't feel like news to them.
Let's zoom in on AFP -- Agence France-Press -- which is the world's oldest wire service, having started in 1835. Prashant Rao is the Baghdad Bureau Chief for AFP. He tweeted about none of the above violence. What was he Tweeting?
Oh, that's funny. It's good to know that those in charge of news coverage are busy making braying asses out of themselves while ignoring death and destruction around them.
When did he register violence today?
Baghdad got hit by car bombs, suddenly violence mattered. 16 dead and 23 wounded before that didn't mean a damn.
Qassim Abdul (AP) reports 2 car bombgs hit northern Baghdad resulting in 9 dead and twenty-four injured, a Baghdad bombing in a market (followed by a second bombing when people came running to help) left 12 dead and twenty-seven injured, an eastern Baghdad market was hit by a car bomb which claimed 5 lives and left sixteen injured, a car bomb in southern Baghdad left 4 dead and fifteen injured, a car bomb in Baghdad's Hurriyah section claimed 3 lives and left thirteen injured and, in the Amiriyah section, a car bombing claimed 2 lives and left twelve injured. The Amiryah may be the most surprising -- Nouri's got more troops there than a year ago -- more of his troops more of his police. Why? Because of the ongoing protests. The bombing there indicates that security can't provide security. Kareem Raheem, Aref Mohammed, Ahmed Rasheed, Isabel Coles and Andrew Heavens (Reuters) report, "At least 45 people were killed in bomb attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, most of them in busy markets and commercial areas of the capital Baghdad, police and medics said." Detsche Welle adds, "Bombings also occurred in Mosul, Samawah and Basra." In Basra, three bombs targeted the Mnawi Basha hotel, Reuters has video of the aftermath. Al-Manar notes that 4 people were shot dead in Baghdad. Al-Shorfa reports, "Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and five wounded in clashes between Iraqi security forces and al-Qaeda elements who tried to enter Iraq from Syria, Iraqi police in Ninawa province said Tuesday."
With no one claiming responsibilities, various outlets trot out their own pet theories. So Iran's Press TV uses the opportunity to go after rival neighbors, "There has been an upsurge in violence across Iraq recently, and Iraqi authorities say Qatar and Saudi Arabia have had a hand in some of the deadly incidents." And they focus on Shi'ites forgetting the attacks in Amiriyah and near Abu Ghraib (which would be Sunni populations). BBC News goes with, "Violence erupted in April when Iraqi security forces stormed an anti-government Sunni protest in the city of Hawija, killing and wounding dozens of protesters." RTE offers, "A sustained campaign of attacks since the start of the year has increased fears of wider conflict in a country where ethnic Kurds, Shia and Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable power-sharing compromise." AFP adds, "And while political leaders have pledged to resolve the dispute, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki meeting his two main rivals last month, no tangible measures have been agreed. Meanwhile, tensions have persisted in a swathe of territory in northern Iraq that Kurdish leaders want to incorporate into their autonomous three-province region over Baghdad's objections." Jamal Hashim (Xinhua) provides an analysis which includes:
In a bid to contain the country's slide into an all-out sectarian strife, some top politicians from different Iraqi factions, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, and the Kurdish Maliki's deputy Roj Nuri Shawis, held a meeting on June 1 at the office of the Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), to discuss the means to end political differences.
The meeting was a sign of breakthrough in the country's political deadlock, but it only yielded limited results on the ground, as violence in June was reduced from 1,045 people killed to 761, and people in Baghdad noticed that some militias which appeared by the spike of violence have again kept low profile.
However, sporadic waves of massive attacks and daily killings continued, as gunmen focused this time on targeting coffee shops, restaurants, football pitches, markets, funeral tents and mosques of both Shiite and Sunni communities.
Of the evening Baghdad bombings, KUNA notes, "A security source from Baghdad operation command told KUNA that one of the biggest bombing targeted a football field at Al-Sha'la area killing 14 people and injuring 18 others. The source added a bomb was hidden inside a box near the football field cause the explosion."
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"THIS JUST IN! THE INTERNATIONAL JOKE!"
CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O CONTINUES TO HIDE OUT IN AFRICA TO AVOID HIS DOMESTIC SCANDALS.
IN AFRICA, HE'S PRAISED BULLY BOY BUSH. HE ALSO ANNOUNCED A $5 BILLION INVESTMENT IN AFRICA TO FIX ELECTRICITY.
SO AMERICAN TAX PAYERS ARE FOOTING POSSIBLY $100 MILLION SO BARACK CAN TAKE VARIOUS FAMILY MEMBERS TO AFRICA AND, ON TOP OF THAT, HE'S GIVING AWAY $5 BILLION AT A TIME WHEN AMERICANS ARE LOSING FOOD STAMPS AND BEING TOLD THAT EVERY AMERICAN HAS TO SACRIFICE DUE TO A BUDGET DEFICIT.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
It was not a good day for the US government. The administration looks increasingly incompetent and the US State Dept's becoming a national joke. We'll come back later in the snapshot to the State Dept press briefing but note this remark from AP's Matthew Lee in the midst of the briefing today:
Okay. So let me just do a little quick recap from the most transparent Administration in history. You won’t tell us what you are asking for [Egypitan] President Morsy to do or what you would like to see. The conversations that you have with countries involving [NSA whistle-blower] Mr. Snowden are private and you can’t talk about them. Your conversations with European allies and others about the NSA spying allegations are also private. I don’t know. How would you respond to someone who might say that it appears that the only privacy that this Administration is interested in protecting is its own?
Damning remarks from AP's Matthew Lee. Completely accurate ones, no needed embarrassment for Lee but who the hell is running the US government currently as it spins out of control and veers from one scandal to the next? The incompetence, it's the continued incompetence. Maybe next time, a president doesn't leave the country on an expensive family vacation (look at all the relatives the tax payers paid to go to Africa) when he should be governing. Turning to Iraq . . .
Long before noon in the United States, Iraq had already been slammed with violence. You already had Iraq's National Iraqi News Agency reports the military killed 2 suspects in Mtaibijh, a Mosul roadside bombing left two people injured, another Mosul roadside bombing claimed 2 lives and left a police officer injured, a Falluja roadside bombing injured three people, an armed clash to the west of Mosul left 4 Federal Police and SWAT forces dead and four more injured, a Kirkuk roadside bombing claimed 1 life and left another person injured, and last night a Baquba suicide bomber attacked a cafe leaving 7 people dead and twelve injured. -- last night's bombing has resulted in allegedly tighter security and in "popular cafes in the city of Baquba" closing their doors today. That amounted to 16 dead and twenty-three injured.
But it wasn't news. No US outlet was covering it, the wires weren't covering it. 16 dead just didn't feel like news to them.
Let's zoom in on AFP -- Agence France-Press -- which is the world's oldest wire service, having started in 1835. Prashant Rao is the Baghdad Bureau Chief for AFP. He tweeted about none of the above violence. What was he Tweeting?
Looks like #Snowden will soon be able to fly direct to Baghdad -- perhaps an asylum claim is upcoming? http://bit.ly/12j1KTL
Oh, that's funny. It's good to know that those in charge of news coverage are busy making braying asses out of themselves while ignoring death and destruction around them.
When did he register violence today?
Baghdad got hit by car bombs, suddenly violence mattered. 16 dead and 23 wounded before that didn't mean a damn.
Qassim Abdul (AP) reports 2 car bombgs hit northern Baghdad resulting in 9 dead and twenty-four injured, a Baghdad bombing in a market (followed by a second bombing when people came running to help) left 12 dead and twenty-seven injured, an eastern Baghdad market was hit by a car bomb which claimed 5 lives and left sixteen injured, a car bomb in southern Baghdad left 4 dead and fifteen injured, a car bomb in Baghdad's Hurriyah section claimed 3 lives and left thirteen injured and, in the Amiriyah section, a car bombing claimed 2 lives and left twelve injured. The Amiryah may be the most surprising -- Nouri's got more troops there than a year ago -- more of his troops more of his police. Why? Because of the ongoing protests. The bombing there indicates that security can't provide security. Kareem Raheem, Aref Mohammed, Ahmed Rasheed, Isabel Coles and Andrew Heavens (Reuters) report, "At least 45 people were killed in bomb attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, most of them in busy markets and commercial areas of the capital Baghdad, police and medics said." Detsche Welle adds, "Bombings also occurred in Mosul, Samawah and Basra." In Basra, three bombs targeted the Mnawi Basha hotel, Reuters has video of the aftermath. Al-Manar notes that 4 people were shot dead in Baghdad. Al-Shorfa reports, "Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and five wounded in clashes between Iraqi security forces and al-Qaeda elements who tried to enter Iraq from Syria, Iraqi police in Ninawa province said Tuesday."
With no one claiming responsibilities, various outlets trot out their own pet theories. So Iran's Press TV uses the opportunity to go after rival neighbors, "There has been an upsurge in violence across Iraq recently, and Iraqi authorities say Qatar and Saudi Arabia have had a hand in some of the deadly incidents." And they focus on Shi'ites forgetting the attacks in Amiriyah and near Abu Ghraib (which would be Sunni populations). BBC News goes with, "Violence erupted in April when Iraqi security forces stormed an anti-government Sunni protest in the city of Hawija, killing and wounding dozens of protesters." RTE offers, "A sustained campaign of attacks since the start of the year has increased fears of wider conflict in a country where ethnic Kurds, Shia and Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable power-sharing compromise." AFP adds, "And while political leaders have pledged to resolve the dispute, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki meeting his two main rivals last month, no tangible measures have been agreed. Meanwhile, tensions have persisted in a swathe of territory in northern Iraq that Kurdish leaders want to incorporate into their autonomous three-province region over Baghdad's objections." Jamal Hashim (Xinhua) provides an analysis which includes:
In a bid to contain the country's slide into an all-out sectarian strife, some top politicians from different Iraqi factions, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, and the Kurdish Maliki's deputy Roj Nuri Shawis, held a meeting on June 1 at the office of the Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), to discuss the means to end political differences.
The meeting was a sign of breakthrough in the country's political deadlock, but it only yielded limited results on the ground, as violence in June was reduced from 1,045 people killed to 761, and people in Baghdad noticed that some militias which appeared by the spike of violence have again kept low profile.
However, sporadic waves of massive attacks and daily killings continued, as gunmen focused this time on targeting coffee shops, restaurants, football pitches, markets, funeral tents and mosques of both Shiite and Sunni communities.
Of the evening Baghdad bombings, KUNA notes, "A security source from Baghdad operation command told KUNA that one of the biggest bombing targeted a football field at Al-Sha'la area killing 14 people and injuring 18 others. The source added a bomb was hidden inside a box near the football field cause the explosion."
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
"16 dead, 23 injured"
"How chasing Ed Snowden harmed Dems 2016 chances"
"Pluto and Mars"
"Cookie blocker"
"Congress fails again"
"sad truths about long john silver's"
"Mistresses"
"The spying could kill a trade deal"
"Under The Dome -- problems with the show emerge"
"White House Down"
"Support for Snowden, not Barack"
"Ed Snowden"
"He just gets more embarrassing"
"THIS JUST IN! THE INTERNATIONAL JOKE!"
Tuesday, July 02, 2013
THIS JUST IN! THE INTERNATIONAL JOKE!
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
AMERICA'S LITTLE BITCH JUST GOT TRASHIER.
AS THE WORLD RECOILS FROM BARRY O OVER THE REVELATIONS THAT HE'S BEEN SPYING ON EVERYONE, INSTEAD OF BEING A MAN AND TAKING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR WHAT HE DID, BARACK REACHES IN, GRABS HIS INNER BITCH AND LETS THAT PARADE ON THE WORLD STAGE AS HE INSISTS, "OTHERS DO IT TOO!"
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A LITTLE CANDY ASS IS ELEVATED TO LEADER.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
BBC News reports that a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in Muqdadiyah. AFP counts 23 dead with twenty-seven injured. Xinhua reports 8 Sahwa were shot dead in Tarmiyah after they were "dragged out" of the their homes by assailants and taken "to a nearby orchard," an Alhamidhiyah roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldiers and left two more injured, 1 police officer was shot dead outside his Falluja home, 1 person was shot dead in a Mafraq market and a Mosul sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 Ministry of Oil employee. NINA adds that a Ramadi attack left 1 Iraqi soldier dead and two more injured. Alsumaria notes a Mosul armed attack claimed the life of 1 college student, and 2 members of Nouri's SWAT forces were killed in Kirkuk.
On the topic of the SWAT forces, National Iraqi News Agency reported Sunday that 31 members of Nouri's SWAT forces were arrested in Karbala and they were arrested after their attack on football coach Mohammed Abbas who died Sunday morning. Please remember, this relatively new force in Iraq has been trained, since last fall, by US forces and equipped by the US government. They have been a holy terror in Iraq leading to leaders of various provinces to ask Nouri to keep this menace out of their province.
Today, a new month began and yesterday another violent month ended for Iraq. Ahmed Rasheed, Kareem Raheem and Elizabeth Piper (Reuters) report that the United Nations has announced the death toll for June was 761. Al Mada and Kitabat note that the United Nations also revealed the number of Iraqis injured in June was 1771. Here's UNAMI's announcement:
Baghdad, 1 July 2013 – According to UNAMI figures, a total of 761 Iraqis were killed and another 1,771 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in June.
The number of civilians killed was 685 (including 131 civilian police) and the number of civilians injured was 1,610 (including 221 civilian police). A further 76 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed and 161 were injured.
Baghdad was the worst-affected Governorate with 950 civilian casualties (258 killed, 692 injured), followed by Salahuddin, Ninewa, Diyala and Anbar (triple-digit figures).
Kirkuk, Babil, Wasit, Basra and Najaf also reported casualties (double-digit figures).
Prensa Latina notes the United Nations death tolls for the last three months:
April: 712
May: 1045
June: 761
June is now the second most violent month of the year. In addition, the UN count for the last three months adds up to 2518. That's over half the death toll for the entire year of 2010 (4109 -- click for "monthly table" or you won't see the yearly totals). From January through March of this year, IBC counts 1656 violent deaths and when you add that to 2518 to get a total number of deaths for January 2013 through June 2013, you get a total of 4174 -- meaning, at the half-year mark, there have already been more violent deaths in Iraq than in the entire year of 2010.
Yesterday, there was a prison break. NINA reported that 9 inmates of Qurna prison outside Basra escaped today. Later, two were arrested -- later, also, it was learned 10 had escaped, not nine. Today, All Iraq News explains that the number who escaped was 12. What says incompetence more: a prison break or the prison being unaware of exactly how many prisoners have escaped? What a proud moment for prime minister Nouri al-Maliki.
All Iraq News notes that Nouri al-Maliki visited the Iraqi Embassy in Moscow today. Dar Addustour notes he also met with approximately 250 Iraqi students who are studying in Russia and their teachers. Nouri arrived in Moscow yesterday. NINA notes the objective of the visit was oil and that Nouri met yesterday with Vagit Alekperov, the president of Lukoil. Eurasia Reivew adds, "The parties discussed progress of West Qurna-2 field-development project, the company's plans to develop Block-10 and other prospective projects in which the company may participate." AFP reminds, "Lukoil and Norway’s Statoil won the right to develop a section of Qurna - one of Iraq’s largest oil fields - in 2009." Alsumaria adds that Lukoil states that it wants to double its investment. NINA quotes from a statement issued by Nouri's office stating "that Iraq seeks to increase its oil production and expand its oil industry, as well as build oil refineries". And the meeting takes place at an opportune time. Al Rafidayn explains that Nouri happens to be in Russia as leaders from Venezuela and Iran are present for an informal oil and gas summit. Tomorrow Nouri is set to meet with Vladimir Putin. RIA Novosti notes, "Russia will supply over 10 fully armed and equipped Mi-28NE Night Hunter attack helicopters to Iraq under a multi-billion dollar agreement, a representative of the country's state arms exporter told RIA Novosti."
This is supposed to be part of the October 9th, $4.2 billion dollars weapon deal Nouri signed with Russia. After taking his bows on the world stage and with Parliament and others raising objections, Nouri quickly announced the deal was off. Kitabat suggested yesterday that calling the deal off was a way for Nouri to force renegotiations of the deal. Today, All Iraq News reports, Kurdish MP Lateef Mustafa declared that, "The step of lifting the UN sanctions on Iraq is not achieved by a certain side, but it is a result of all the Iraqi people's efforts" so "the government not to waste funds on purchasing arms but it should focus on providing services." Al Rafidayn notes that, in tomorrow's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Nouri is supposed to discuss events in Syria as well as the arming of Iraq with more weapons.
On the topic of oil, the Kurdish Globe reminds, "Speaking at the Iraq Energy Conference in London, Dr. Ashti Hawrami, the Natural Resources Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), announced on Wednesday 19 June 2013 that the project to extend an oil pipeline from the Kurdistan Region to Turkey will be completed by the end of September this year." Isabel Coles and Ahmed Rasheed (Reuters) note that work is taking place on the pipeline and "Some 600 km away, Iraqi officials in Baghdad's heavily fortified oil ministry are threatening dire consequences if the pipeline is completed, but appear powerless to prevent the Kurds exporting oil without their consent."
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AMERICA'S LITTLE BITCH JUST GOT TRASHIER.
AS THE WORLD RECOILS FROM BARRY O OVER THE REVELATIONS THAT HE'S BEEN SPYING ON EVERYONE, INSTEAD OF BEING A MAN AND TAKING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR WHAT HE DID, BARACK REACHES IN, GRABS HIS INNER BITCH AND LETS THAT PARADE ON THE WORLD STAGE AS HE INSISTS, "OTHERS DO IT TOO!"
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A LITTLE CANDY ASS IS ELEVATED TO LEADER.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
BBC News reports that a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in Muqdadiyah. AFP counts 23 dead with twenty-seven injured. Xinhua reports 8 Sahwa were shot dead in Tarmiyah after they were "dragged out" of the their homes by assailants and taken "to a nearby orchard," an Alhamidhiyah roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldiers and left two more injured, 1 police officer was shot dead outside his Falluja home, 1 person was shot dead in a Mafraq market and a Mosul sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 Ministry of Oil employee. NINA adds that a Ramadi attack left 1 Iraqi soldier dead and two more injured. Alsumaria notes a Mosul armed attack claimed the life of 1 college student, and 2 members of Nouri's SWAT forces were killed in Kirkuk.
On the topic of the SWAT forces, National Iraqi News Agency reported Sunday that 31 members of Nouri's SWAT forces were arrested in Karbala and they were arrested after their attack on football coach Mohammed Abbas who died Sunday morning. Please remember, this relatively new force in Iraq has been trained, since last fall, by US forces and equipped by the US government. They have been a holy terror in Iraq leading to leaders of various provinces to ask Nouri to keep this menace out of their province.
Today, a new month began and yesterday another violent month ended for Iraq. Ahmed Rasheed, Kareem Raheem and Elizabeth Piper (Reuters) report that the United Nations has announced the death toll for June was 761. Al Mada and Kitabat note that the United Nations also revealed the number of Iraqis injured in June was 1771. Here's UNAMI's announcement:
Baghdad, 1 July 2013 – According to UNAMI figures, a total of 761 Iraqis were killed and another 1,771 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in June.
The number of civilians killed was 685 (including 131 civilian police) and the number of civilians injured was 1,610 (including 221 civilian police). A further 76 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed and 161 were injured.
Baghdad was the worst-affected Governorate with 950 civilian casualties (258 killed, 692 injured), followed by Salahuddin, Ninewa, Diyala and Anbar (triple-digit figures).
Kirkuk, Babil, Wasit, Basra and Najaf also reported casualties (double-digit figures).
Prensa Latina notes the United Nations death tolls for the last three months:
April: 712
May: 1045
June: 761
June is now the second most violent month of the year. In addition, the UN count for the last three months adds up to 2518. That's over half the death toll for the entire year of 2010 (4109 -- click for "monthly table" or you won't see the yearly totals). From January through March of this year, IBC counts 1656 violent deaths and when you add that to 2518 to get a total number of deaths for January 2013 through June 2013, you get a total of 4174 -- meaning, at the half-year mark, there have already been more violent deaths in Iraq than in the entire year of 2010.
Yesterday, there was a prison break. NINA reported that 9 inmates of Qurna prison outside Basra escaped today. Later, two were arrested -- later, also, it was learned 10 had escaped, not nine. Today, All Iraq News explains that the number who escaped was 12. What says incompetence more: a prison break or the prison being unaware of exactly how many prisoners have escaped? What a proud moment for prime minister Nouri al-Maliki.
All Iraq News notes that Nouri al-Maliki visited the Iraqi Embassy in Moscow today. Dar Addustour notes he also met with approximately 250 Iraqi students who are studying in Russia and their teachers. Nouri arrived in Moscow yesterday. NINA notes the objective of the visit was oil and that Nouri met yesterday with Vagit Alekperov, the president of Lukoil. Eurasia Reivew adds, "The parties discussed progress of West Qurna-2 field-development project, the company's plans to develop Block-10 and other prospective projects in which the company may participate." AFP reminds, "Lukoil and Norway’s Statoil won the right to develop a section of Qurna - one of Iraq’s largest oil fields - in 2009." Alsumaria adds that Lukoil states that it wants to double its investment. NINA quotes from a statement issued by Nouri's office stating "that Iraq seeks to increase its oil production and expand its oil industry, as well as build oil refineries". And the meeting takes place at an opportune time. Al Rafidayn explains that Nouri happens to be in Russia as leaders from Venezuela and Iran are present for an informal oil and gas summit. Tomorrow Nouri is set to meet with Vladimir Putin. RIA Novosti notes, "Russia will supply over 10 fully armed and equipped Mi-28NE Night Hunter attack helicopters to Iraq under a multi-billion dollar agreement, a representative of the country's state arms exporter told RIA Novosti."
This is supposed to be part of the October 9th, $4.2 billion dollars weapon deal Nouri signed with Russia. After taking his bows on the world stage and with Parliament and others raising objections, Nouri quickly announced the deal was off. Kitabat suggested yesterday that calling the deal off was a way for Nouri to force renegotiations of the deal. Today, All Iraq News reports, Kurdish MP Lateef Mustafa declared that, "The step of lifting the UN sanctions on Iraq is not achieved by a certain side, but it is a result of all the Iraqi people's efforts" so "the government not to waste funds on purchasing arms but it should focus on providing services." Al Rafidayn notes that, in tomorrow's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Nouri is supposed to discuss events in Syria as well as the arming of Iraq with more weapons.
On the topic of oil, the Kurdish Globe reminds, "Speaking at the Iraq Energy Conference in London, Dr. Ashti Hawrami, the Natural Resources Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), announced on Wednesday 19 June 2013 that the project to extend an oil pipeline from the Kurdistan Region to Turkey will be completed by the end of September this year." Isabel Coles and Ahmed Rasheed (Reuters) note that work is taking place on the pipeline and "Some 600 km away, Iraqi officials in Baghdad's heavily fortified oil ministry are threatening dire consequences if the pipeline is completed, but appear powerless to prevent the Kurds exporting oil without their consent."
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