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Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Tuesday,
July 21, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, reporters remain
imprisoned in the 'free' Iraq, the UN whines about the Kurds, Robert
Gates explains the US army will be expanded, and more. Quil
Lawrence: Ibrahim Jassam was 29-years-old when he began filming news
for Reuters wire service. That was 2006 and the towns southwest of
Baghdad had earned the name Triangle of Death because of the violence
between Shi'ite militias and Sunni insurgents. His brother Waleed says
Jassam took his work very seriously. Waleed
Jassam: When there was an explosion Ibrahim was always the first one to
be in the location filming. He felt whatever was happening on the
ground, he wanted to be seen on the television. Quil
Lawrence: But, as with many cases in the past, the US military
apparently thought Jassam's photos looked a little too close to the
action suggesting a connection to insurgents. One morning last
September, a combined US and Iraqi force cordoned off Jasam's
neighborhood hours before dawn. They broke down the door of the house
where he lived with his parents and siblings and dragged Jassam away in
his underwear, handcuffed. They brought dogs inside the house said his
sister Iman as she points out Jassam's room. Iman says she tried to
tell the soldiers her brother had done nothing wrong. Iman
Jassam: One of the Iraqi soldiers said, "Why are you still talking? If
you only knew what we are going to do to your brother, you would be
crying." These words are still echoing in my ears. Quil
Lawrence: It took months before the family got word that Jassim was in
a US military prison and they eventually visited him. What they're
still waiting for is any kind of criminal charge against him. Capt Brad Kimberly: Ibrahim Jassam is still in detention because he's classified as a high security threat Quil
Lawrence: Capt Brad Kimberly is a US military spokesman. He says
starting this year with the new US-Iraqi security agreement, all
American arrests require an Iraqi warrant but, since Jassam was
arrested last year, no warrant was needed. Kimberly said the only
obligation is to transfer him sometime after December. But Kimberly
offers no evidence. Capt
Brad Kimberly: Prior to the first of January, all detainees were held
as wartime security threats, no legal charges were assigned. Quil
Lawrence: In fact, an Iraqi court document from last November says
that, since the Americans provided no evidence or confession, Jassam
should be released. Michael Christie is the Reuters bureau chief in
Baghdad. He says Jassam did a good job in a dangerous city. Michael
Christie: We have to assume he has been detained because of the work he
was doing as a journalist. Until we see otherwise, until the evidence
is declassified, he deserves the presumption of innocence. Quil
Lawrence: Iraqi journalists have been regularly detained by US forces
through the course of the American occupation. Several have been
killed when mistaken for insurgents. According to Mohamed Abdel Dayem
of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Jassam is the
only one still in US custody. Mohammed
Abdel Dayem: No charges have been brough against any of the
journalists. Journalists, if and when they are detained, their cases
should be reviewed in a quick and timely way and they should either be
charged with a recognized crime or be released. Quil
Lawrence: After a few months in a prison near Baghdad, Jassam was
transferred to Camp Bucca, a massive US prison camp near the border
with Kuwait. It's an eight or nine hour drive south from his home but
the family was able to visit him last month. Ibrahim Jassam's sister
Iman says he isn't eating enough and looks thing. She says her brother
knows the Iraqi court cleared him in November and he can't understand
why the Americans keep holding him for ten months now and counting.
Quil Lawrence, NPR News, Baghdad. In other news, Reuters
photographer Ibrahim Jassam has been a prisoner in Iraq since Sept. 1,
2008 when US and Iraqi military forces drug him from his Mahmudiyah
home. He has been held a prisoner since then at Camp Cropper. Reporters Without Borders and Journalistic Freedom Observatory have been calling for his release. Reuters reported
yesterday that Iraq's Central Criminal Court has ordered that Ibrahim
be released because "there was no evidence against" him; however,
"There was no immediate response from the U.S. military to the ruling."
Daryl Lang (Photo District News) adds,
"Jassam's case resembles those of several other Iraqi photographers and
cameramen working for Western news organizations, all of whom were
eventually freed. And the decision comes as the U.S. is releasing
thousands of security detainees and preparing to turn its much-maligned
detainee system over to the Iraqi government." December 9, 2009, Reuters reported
that US Maj Neal Fisher stated all the Iraqi court order meant was that
when he is released Ibrahim "will be able to out-process without having
to go through the courts as other detainees in his threat
classification will have to do." Why is that? Because the court has
found no reason to hold Ibrahim. So while others will go on to have
their day in court, Fisher is admitting that Ibrahim's had his but the
US military just doesn't want to release him. In June of this year,
the Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter
to Nouri al-Maliki and they noted Ibrahim and requested, "Press the
U.S. military to respect the decision of the Iraqi courts and
immediately release Ibrahim Jassam." Last September, Reporters Without Borders pointed out
that over "20 journalists have been arrested in Iraq in similar
circumstances since 1st January 2008, all of whom have been released
after spending days or even months in custody without any charges being
made against them." CPJ notes him here (note that Adel Hussein, whose profile follows, has been released and shouldn't even be on the current list of journalists imprisoned). Reporters Without Borders notes
that three journalists are currently detained in Iraq, there's Ibrahim
starting September 1, 2008; Mountazer al-Zaidi starting December 14,
2008 (he's the one who threw his shoes at Bully Boy Bush and Nouri's
joint-press conference in December) and Jassem Mohamed who has been
imprisoned since February 2009. Meanwhile, last week Reporters Without Borders declared,
"Iraqi security forces working with Sahwa militias seem to be taking
advantage of the withdrawal of the US forces to physically target
journalists. The Iraqi authorities must do what is necessary to put a
stop to this and to ensure that there are independent investigations
into these two recent incidents." The first incident involved Ali
Al-Juburi (Ifaq) Ahmad Omad (Biladi TV) and Karim Al-Qasimi ( Al Fiha) outside
Ramadi, traveling in a car clearly marked as press being pulled over by
Sahwa and Iraqi police and physically attacked. The second is Haydar
al_Qotbi (Radio Sawa) attacked in Baghdad by Sahwa after he displayed
his press credentials ("dragged from the car and badly beated by six
men"). Reuters notes
"an Iraqi journalist working for a Kudrish magazine" was shot dead in
Kirkuk Monday and 5 people wounded in shootings in Haswa while Tirkit
was the site of an attack today "on the convoy of Khalid Burhan, head
of health office of Salahudding province" that left his guards
wounded. The journalist was Soran Mamhama. He was 23-years-old and AP states he worked for the "magazine Leven and often covered government corruption." Reporters Without Borders issued a statement
condeming the murder and stated, "We call on the Kudristan authorities
to carry out a thorough investigation into the circumstances of Hama's
murder. He wrote hard-hitting articles about local politicians and
security officials and had received threats from people telling him to
stop his investigative reporting. The authorities should therefore
give priority to the theory that he was killed because of his work." Xinhua notes
Soran was shot dead outside his home and quotes Journalist Freedoms
Observatory's Ziyad al-Ajili stating, "The first step to halt the
assassinations against journalists is to capture those culprits." Iran's Press TV quotes
Latif Satih Faraj (Kurdish Journalists Union in Kirkuk) stating, "If
the government can't protect Kurdish journalists in Kirkuk, we might
adviste them to withdraw from this city." Iraq's The Window reports Leveen is calling for an investigation and that "Leveen,
which is an independent Kurdish magazine founded 6 years ago in
Sulaimani, is known as a muckraking journal in Kurdistan and Iraq." The Committee To Protect Journalists is calling for his murder(s) to be brought to justice,
"Authorities in Kirkuk province must bring to justice those responsible
for the 2008 murder of journalist Soran Mama Hama . . . the Committee
to Protect Journalists said on the eve of the anniversary of the
reporter's slaying. . . . Mama Hama published an article in Livin
before his death about the alleged complicity of the police and
security officials in prostitution rings in Kirkuk. He claimed in the
article that his sources had provided him with names of 'police
brigadiers, many lieutenants, colonels, and many police and security
officers,' who were clients. The shooting occurred at around 9 p.m. in
the dominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Shorija, a relatively safe area
in Kirkuk." They note that Soran was one of 139 journalists killed in
Iraq since the start of the illegal war. A year
ago today, Nouri was gearing up for his trip to Berlin where he'd meet
with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This as thug and puppet of the
occupation Nouri al-Maliki gears up for his media stop in the US,
just in time for Barry O's prime time address Wednesday night. July
25th, three provinces in Iraq hold their provincial elections and to
steal attention (what little's been given) for the KRG, Nouri plans to
announce an education plan that would put 10,000 Iraqis in Australia,
Canada, the UK and the US for college study. Of course, that 10,000
wouldn't come anytime soon. He plans to do 500. He'll make his
announcement of the program in DC Saturday morning. Ned Parker's " Maliki remakes himself ahead of elections" ( Los Angeles Times) covers the region's Madonna as he prepares to embark on his Blonde Ambition tour and notes of self-promoter Nouri: Iran
has played a king-making role in Iraqi Shiite politics since 2003
because of its ties to many Shiite lawmakers, who spent years in exile
across the border."In the
period of 2006 and 2007, there were moves to remove Maliki. It was Iran
who stopped it. Maliki has to remember this. They can make his life
harder," said Sami Askari, a Shiite legislator and confidant of the
prime minister.Still, Askari warned that Maliki would not be hemmed in; he would set the conditions for any list of candidates he might join."Maliki
will not accept to be marginalized. . . . Some may have ambitions to
surround Maliki. I doubt they will succeed," Askari said. "Everyone
understands Maliki is an asset."Noting the visit is Jake Kurtzer (Refugees International) who stresses the ongoing Iraqi refugee crisis -- internal and external displaced persons -- and offers: President Obama can convey this message by urging Al-Maliki to take a few basic steps.
First and foremost, the Iraqi government must continue to improve its
own response to the displacement crisis. Reports that the Iraqi
government plans to close the IDP file at the end of this year indicate
a desire on their part to gloss over this humanitarian emergency. This
is unacceptable. The Iraqi government, with U.S. support, must continue
to improve its legal framework for supporting returnees and must ensure
that all returns are voluntary, and conducted with dignity to areas
that are safe and suitable for return. In
urging Al-Maliki to take these steps, President Obama should reiterate
America's commitment to meeting the basic needs of Iraq's displaced,
through financial support for humanitarian agencies and through
diplomatic engagement with host countries. The announcement of a
potential return of an Ambassador to Syria is a welcome and overdue
step that RI has been calling for since 2007. This will ensure that the
U.S. can engage with the Syrian government on issues relating to the
basic needs of Iraqi refugees. Finally, the President can continue to
affirm the U.S.'s commitment to resettle those most vulnerable Iraqi's
who will never be able to return home. Refugees International's latest report is [PDF format warning] entitled " IRAQI REFUGEES: WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND SECURITY CRITICAL TO RETURNS" and it's covered in yesterday's snapshot. Nouri's
first stop will be the United Nations. No surprise, the UN is suddenly
interested in Iraq again. The same UN that's shutting down offices and
websites. (Didn't you notice? Try to visit UNHCR's Iraq page. It's gone.) Tim Cocks (Reuters) reports
that an unnamed UN diplomat is swearing that the KRG needs to stop
their demands on Kirkuk and just wait because, "We (all) believe that
would lead to war and the U.N. has . . . told the Kurds that." And the
response of the Kurds should be: Who the hell cares? The referendum on
oil-rich Kirkuk was supposed to have taken place no later than December
2007. It's 2009 and they're still being told to wait? The UN claimed
in the summer of 2008 they'd work on a solution. It's a year later and
the solution is: Wait? No. If you were a Kurd
you wouldn't support waiting one more moment. They've waited. They've
listened. It's really past time for something to be done about the
situation. Iraq's Constitution has not been followed and if the United
Nations wants to help, they might try actually helping instead of being
the joke to every NGO and charity in Iraq right now. They made
themselves that joke. They did it when they let a man WHORE out the
good name of the UN to appease al-Maliki. Yeah, back when they said
that host countries shouldn't consider Iraqi citizens refugees from a
dangerous country. Under huge protests internally, the UN issued a
statement saying that, of course, the situation in Iraq was still too
dangerous for a return. But they'd already made a joke of themselves
and they'd yet again proven that they will LIE for Nouri. They did
last fall when they allowed their spokeswoman to lash out at Iraqi
women in a press conference, to blame Iraqi women for the cholera
outbreak. That's wasn't public health, it wasn't anything but take the
heat off Nouri. The United Nations has played the fool for Nouri one
time too damn many and their reputation is in tatters in Iraq. It's
their own fault and it will require real work to build it back up.
Until they do, the Kurds should tell them to butt the hell out of an
issue in a supposedly soveriegn country. What's the United Nations
doing butting in yet again anyway? The Kurds didn't invite them into
the conversation. Oh, Nouri invited them in.
Well it's not all about Nouri and the KRG doesn't have to listen to the
UN and shouldn't at this point in time. Read Tim Cocks' report and
grasp that the unnamed diplomat is WHORING for Nouri. (Cocks has
written an excellent report, the embarrassment is the UN diplomat.)
It's all, "Bad Barzani!" from the diplomat. First off, July 25th is
when the KRG holds provincial elections and presidential. It's funny
how many times I've heard friends at the UN excuse Nouri's alarmist
rhetoric with, "He's just trying to drum up support for the
elections." Yet, Barzani faces an election on Saturday and he's not
given the same benefit of the doubt? The UN has embarrassed themselves
and the problem has been from day one that no one person is in charge.
This group (usually on the ground in Iraq) goes off and does what it
wants. The UN attempts to fix it by using an agency spokesperson from
outside Iraq. But they never punish their staff in Iraq that
continually causes these problems. Instead of fretting over Kirkuk,
the UN should work on getting their own damn house in order. The
United Nations needs to be seen as an honest broker. It gave that up
due to on the ground staff repeatedly distorting to benefit Nouri
al-Maliki. Those people were not disciplined (and it took forever just
to get two of them removed from Iraq). Now the UN wants to tell the
Kurds to wait? After it gave up the right to be seen as an honest
broker? If I were Baghdad, I'd wait. I'd wait
happily. If I were the Kurds, I'd grasp that maybe a little violence
will come in the already violent Iraq if I move but if I don't move the
issue will continue to be postponed while the US government gets closer
and closer to Nouri. I'd grasp that Nouri's violence usually leads to
the US Embassy appeasing him. I'd grasp that maybe setting off my own
violence might get me some of Kirkuk or Nineveh. I'd grasp that the
United Nation's diplomat is trashing me to the press when Nouri is the
one who has held up the Kirkuk issue. When the Iraq Constitution
mandated that he commission a census and schedule a referendum before
the end of 2007, when the White House benchmarks included that he
resolve the issue of Kirkuk. Nouri didn't do that. But the one
causing the problem is the Kurds? I'd grasp that any UN staff that
turned around and trashed me to the press wasn't worth working with and
I'd decide what I wanted to do and when I wanted to do it. Two and a
half years after the Iraq Constitution mandated this issue be settled,
it's still not and the United Nations wants to say "WAIT!" and blame
the Kurds? And they want to be seen like they are being fair to both
sides? It's nonsense. And that's demonstrated by the fact that Iran's
Press TV provides perspective the UN diplomat seems not to grasp: The
Kurds say that parts of the majority Arab Nineveh belong to their
ancient homeland and want them included in Iraq's semi-autonomous
region of Kurdistan. Kurds represent 16 of Nineveh's 37 seats in the
parliament. They
complain that Arab Governor, Atheel al-Nujaifi has marginalized them in
the provincial council since he was elected on January 31, restoring
Arabs to power.Should the
problem fail to be resolved, the Kurds will be forced to split the
province into two, forming their own splinter council to run the 16
administrative units, Kurdish councilor Derrman Khitari said on
Sunday. A year ago Nouri was traveling to
Berlin. Once there, he'd declare, "Iraq is able to take the security
situtation into its own hands. We have achived great success." Does
great success mean "large bodycount"? While various US outlets couch
their statements or outright deny the increase violence in Iraq, Alsumaria notes that "Iraq security is replapsing with violence" and that it's leading to crackdowns and curfews. Falluja now has a truck curfew. Reuters notes
that "Ramadi has declared a state of emergency and imposed a vehicle
ban after two bomb attacks on Tuesday". Today's violence? Bombings? Reuters notes
a Baghdad roadside bombing which left 4 dead and thrity-nine injured, a
Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed 2 lives and left thirteen
injured, a Baghdad roadside bombing which claimed 3 lives and left
fifteen injured, a Baghdad car bombing which claimed 2 lives and left
six injured, a Baghdad roadside bombing "targeting the convoy of Water
Resources Minister Abdul Latif Rasheed" which left three police
officers and nine bystanders injured, a Ramadi suicide bomber and a car
bombing -- one after the other, which claimed 3 lives and left thirteen
injured and a Mussayab roadside bombing which injured five Sahwa. Shootings? Meanwhile Steve Levy (Wired) reports on the tech meet up in Iraq: As the CEO of MeetUp, Scott Heiferman
usually spends his days meeting with staff and brainstorming product
strategy. But today the 37-year-old New Yorker, wearing a combat helmet
and armored vest over a black business suit, is crammed into a battered
C-130 transport plane headed for Iraq. Military and diplomatic
personnel aboard are warily eyeing him and the others in his party, all
similarly attired, as the C-130 begins its steep, corkscrew descent
into the Baghdad airport. And Heiferman is thinking, "What am I doing
here?"
It's only been a few weeks since he got an email from a State Department policy planner named Jared Cohen
inviting him to join the first tech delegation to post-invasion Iraq.
Now he's strapped in with eight other Silicon Valley executives, mostly
in their thirties, from Google, Twitter, YouTube, Blue State Digital,
WordPress, Howcast, and AT&T. When Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey got his invitation, "I just said yes," he recalls. YouTube's director of product management, Hunter Walk,
had to go down to his basement to find a suit to wear, because Cohen
insisted that the group dress like diplomats to show respect for their
hosts. Others worked their spouses for approval, repeating Cohen's
assurances that the security situation in Baghdad was much improved.
Howcast CEO Jason Liebman's mother thinks he's on a trip to LA. No
word on whether they'll be staying at the Baghdad Convention Center
("All your business in one place"), but then this isn't one of the big
conferences as evidenced by the fact that Iraq's Chamber of Commerce
and Ministry of Labor are not promoting it. What they are promoting is
the Baghdad Buusiness Expo from October 1st through 3rd, Iraq
Construction Expo from October 22nd to October 24th, the Iraq Health
Expo November 22 through November 24th and the Iraq Energy Expo from
Decmeber 5th through December 7th. On the topic of foreign investments
and business, Susan Webb (People's Weekly World) notes Iraq's Communist Party has come out against the recent oil auction (a second auction is currently planned):
*
Oil is an especially strategic commodity, especially for Iraq, with oil
revenues being the main source for funding the state's budget and
providing for the enormous needs for reconstruction and reviving Iraq's
economy. As a result, the Communist Party said, it is essential that
any formula for using this national resource must ensure Iraq's
national interests and its control over oil and its
revenues.
* The government should give priority to
its own direct national investment, re-establishing the country's
National Oil Company, and utilizing Iraqi expertise. The Communist
Party, whose leader Hameed Majid Mousa is himself trained as an oil
economist, emphasizes that Iraq has a large pool of knowledgeable and
trained oil experts who can play a big role in if their efforts are
well organized and if they are provided with suitable working
conditions.
* Iraq's oil sector is in desperate need of
developed technologies to rehabilitate its infrastructure and oil
wells, to raise production in line with Iraq's increasing needs as well
as to develop its unexploited huge oil reserves with technical and
economic efficiency. Considering these circumstances, Iraq may seek the
help of international companies and institutions in order to make use
of their experience and capabilities, but but this should be done based
on conditions and controls that ensure Iraqi national interests and
preserve the people's right to own the oil wealth and control its
destiny.
* Iraq can use limited-term technical support and
service contracts with foreign firms, but the party warns against
long-term "partnership sharing agreements" (known as PSAs) that
mortgage Iraq's oil and its revenues to foreign interests.
Turning to the United States. Jill Dougherty (CNN) reports
Iraq Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, still in DC (he met with US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last Wednesday), is stating that
Iraq can "not regain full sovereignty and independence without getting
rid of" the United Nations sanctions put in place after Iraq invaded
Kuwait in 1990. Meanwhile US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
announced yesterday: On
the recommendation of Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and Chief of
Staff of the Army General George Casey, and with President Obama's
strong support, today I am announcing a decision to temporarily
increase the active-duty end strength of the Army by up to 22,000. That
is a temporary increase from the current authorized end -- permanent
end strength of 547,000 to an authorized temporary end strength of
569,000 active-duty soldiers.
I
came into this job in 2006 with the belief that we did not have enough
forces to properly support the extended pace of combat operations in
Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world. Shortly after taking office,
and mindful of the decision to surge additional forces into Iraq, I
recommended and the president and the Congress approved a permanent
increase in the size of the Army of 65,000 and the Marine Corps of
27,000. At the time, it was judged that these increases would sustain
the projected level of deployments and lower the stress on the force.
At the same time, I directed that the Army continue to reduce the size
of the nondeployable or institutional part of the force. Elizabeth Bumiller (New York Times) reports
that approximately 130,000 US troops are in Iraq and that Afghanistan
is expected to have 60,000. Though the expansion was the stated reason
for the press conference, it quickly became clear another reason was to
refute Ernesto Londono's Monday morning report " U.S. Troops in Iraq Find Little Leeway" ( Washington Post).
Robert Gates prattled on about no problems, no problems at all, "I
received a report from General [Ray] Odierno just today that addressed
this issue. And he said that the level of cooperation and
collaboration with the Iraqi security forces is going much better than
is being portrayed publicly and in the media. So my impression from
his reporting, and just this week but over the last couple of weeks,
has been that it's actually, in his view, going quite well." Gates
than called on Adm Mike Mullen to back him up. He didn't have to
ask twice. Insisted Mullen, "All discussions I've had with General
Odierno, including one midweek last week, about this issue have been
very positive." Imagine that, a Secretary of Defense insisting media
reports were wrong. No, it's not uncommon but what they didn't seem to
grasp is that you don't want to say that in public about Odierno. He's
very hard to corral and actually feels he has to tell his truth to the
press. Gates knows that. Gates really knows that. By attaching the
opinions to Odierno, they make him the issue and, specifically, they
make the issue: If this is true, why haven't we heard it from him?
Thereby forcing them to allow Odierno access to the media at a time
when they were attempting to limit that. A
private first class in a support battalion, scheduled to go to Iraq,
asked whether, if troops don't complete their 12-month tour in that
country, they will be transferred to Afghanistan before coming home.
Gates said he didn't know for sure but he hopes such soldiers would be
brought home "because there is a different kind of training that goes
on for Afghanistan compared to Iraq." He said the units that will go to
Afghanistan to bring the total to 68,000, as authorized by President
Obama, had already been identified, and thus would not include those on
their way to Iraq.
Gates
said he hedged his answer because "there may be some specific
specialties or specialized units that might be transferred" from Iraq
to Afghanistan but any increase before the end of this year would not
be "a lot."
An
artillery sergeant asked about the likelihood that Army deployments to
Iraq or Afghanistan would be shortened to nine months or even six
months. Gates said that Casey, the chief of staff, "would really like
to do that," noting that Marines are spending seven months deployed and
seven at home, Navy personnel are alternating six-month stints, and Air
Force tours are even shorter.
Rotating
the Army's much larger number of troops in Iraq with a
less-than-one-year deployment would create an unacceptable logistics
problem, he said. He said a question he had with shorter rotations amid
a counterinsurgency is "Do we cut our capability -- because we cut our
experience level by the shorter tours?" "The
president relies on a list of handpicked reporters to call on at his
formal news conferences -- and the fortunate few are not necessarily
accredited reporters but include new age self-appointed journalists or
anyone with a laptop," veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas (The Boston Channel) wrote
a while back. A while back? During the Bush Administration? No,
earlier this month. When Helen covered the previous administration
like that, she was applauded and it seemed like Amy Goodman couldn't
stop singing her praises. These days Amy sings the praises of Liar
Rachel Maddow -- a TV host so stupid that, Bob Somerby explains,
she has to make up things Pat Buchanan supposedly said. Grasp that.
Rachel Maddow wants to do a take down on Pat Buchanan but she's so
inept that she can't choose from the many, many offensive things he
says on any given day, she has to make to things up. That's how stupid
Rachel Maddow is, how stupid and how dishonest. It's Liar's Poker
passed off as 'progressive politics' and it's why the left is in such a
deep funk that it can't even rally to call out Barry O's latest cave on
health care. Liar's Poker, not information you need, not news you can
use, is what they're trying to shove down your throats. Finally, at World Can't Wait, Debra Sweet posts
audio of her conversation with Candace Gorman about "the lives of her
two clients, still in Guantanamo, one of whom is seriously ill" and the
lack of change for the prisoners at Guantanamo.
Posted at 03:15 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
10 dead, fifty-five injured as violence rocks Iraq
While various US outlets couch their statements or outright deny the increase violence in Iraq, Alsumaria notes that "Iraq sucirty is replapsing with violence" and that it's leading to crackdowns and curfews. Falluja now has a truck curfew. Reuters notes
that "Ramadi has declared a state of emergency and imposed a vehicle
ban after two bomb attacks on Tuesday" with one being a car bombing and
the other a suicide bombing ("in a moving car"), one after the other,
resulting in at least 3 deaths and thirteen injuries according to one
unnamed source from the local police. Meanwhile Muhanad Mohammed, Tim Cocks, Ali al-Mashhadani and Jon Hemming (Reuters) report Baghdad's Sadr City has been rocked by two roadside bombings this morning with an estimated 7 dead and forty-five left injured. Ramadi was one of yesterday's hot spots. Sam Dagher (New York Times) reports on the 11 dead and sixty-one injured in Baghdad and Ramadi yesterday and notes of Ramadi: The
attack occurred at the same spot where Anbar's police chief was wounded
last month in a suicide car-bombing. It also came less than two days
after the former commander and the deputy police chief in Falluja, the
other major city in Anbar, were detained for questioning by a security
force sent from Baghdad, according to the current deputy police chief,
Col. Daoud Salman. It was not clear why they were detained.This as thug and puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki gears up for his media stop in the US,
just in time for Barry O's prime time address Wednesday night. July
25th, three provinces in Iraq hold their provincial elections and to
steal attention (what little's been given) for the KRG, Nouri plans to
announce an education plan that would put 10,000 Iraqis in Australia,
Canada, the UK and the US for college study. Of course, that 10,000
wouldn't come anytime soon. He plans to do 500. He'll make his
announcement of the program in DC Saturday morning. Ned Parker's " Maliki remakes himself ahead of elections" ( Los Angeles Times) covers the region's Madonna as he prepares to embark on his Blonde Ambition tour and notes of self-promoter Nouri: Iran
has played a king-making role in Iraqi Shiite politics since 2003
because of its ties to many Shiite lawmakers, who spent years in exile
across the border."In the
period of 2006 and 2007, there were moves to remove Maliki. It was Iran
who stopped it. Maliki has to remember this. They can make his life
harder," said Sami Askari, a Shiite legislator and confidant of the
prime minister.Still, Askari warned that Maliki would not be hemmed in; he would set the conditions for any list of candidates he might join."Maliki
will not accept to be marginalized. . . . Some may have ambitions to
surround Maliki. I doubt they will succeed," Askari said. "Everyone
understands Maliki is an asset."Noting the visit is Jake Kurtzer (Refugees International) who stresses the ongoing Iraqi refugee crisis -- internal and external displaced persons -- and offers: President Obama can convey this message by urging Al-Maliki to take a few basic steps.
First and foremost, the Iraqi government must continue to improve its
own response to the displacement crisis. Reports that the Iraqi
government plans to close the IDP file at the end of this year indicate
a desire on their part to gloss over this humanitarian emergency. This
is unacceptable. The Iraqi government, with U.S. support, must continue
to improve its legal framework for supporting returnees and must ensure
that all returns are voluntary, and conducted with dignity to areas
that are safe and suitable for return. In
urging Al-Maliki to take these steps, President Obama should reiterate
America's commitment to meeting the basic needs of Iraq's displaced,
through financial support for humanitarian agencies and through
diplomatic engagement with host countries. The announcement of a
potential return of an Ambassador to Syria is a welcome and overdue
step that RI has been calling for since 2007. This will ensure that the
U.S. can engage with the Syrian government on issues relating to the
basic needs of Iraqi refugees. Finally, the President can continue to
affirm the U.S.'s commitment to resettle those most vulnerable Iraqi’s
who will never be able to return home. Refugees International's latest report is [PDF format warning] entitled " IRAQI REFUGEES: WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND SECURITY CRITICAL TO RETURNS" and it's covered in yesterday's snapshot. In
the US, there is a 'fast-track' (by comparison) for Iraqis who were
media workers for US outlets, worked for NGOs or worked with the US
embassy or military in Iraq. Deborah Haynes ( Times of London) has long covered the issue of those Iraqis who worked with British forces and, in fact, has won an award for that reporting. Last week, she offered " Iraqi interpreters employed by British to sue over lack of protection:" About
25 Iraqis, mainly interpreters, employed by British Forces in Iraq are
to take legal action against the Government for allegedly failing to
protect them from militias that regarded the men as traitors.The
group members, who failed to benefit from an assistance scheme offered
by Britain, said that they were owed a duty of care. Some still fear
for their life despite a big drop in the influence of the
Iranian-backed militants who once controlled Basra, southern Iraq. They
say the tense relationship between Iran and Britain makes anyone
associated with the British military more of a target.One former interpreter, who is in hiding in Basra, told The Times: "I am worthless. I have lost my life." Meanwhile Jill Dougherty (CNN) reports
on Iraq Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, still in DC (he met with US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last Wednesday), is stating that
Iraq can "not regain full sovereignty and independence without getting
rid of" the United Nations sanctions put in place after Iraq invaded
Kuwait in 1990. Meanwhile Steve Levy (Wired) reports: As the CEO of MeetUp, Scott Heiferman
usually spends his days meeting with staff and brainstorming product
strategy. But today the 37-year-old New Yorker, wearing a combat helmet
and armored vest over a black business suit, is crammed into a battered
C-130 transport plane headed for Iraq. Military and diplomatic
personnel aboard are warily eyeing him and the others in his party, all
similarly attired, as the C-130 begins its steep, corkscrew descent
into the Baghdad airport. And Heiferman is thinking, "What am I doing
here?"
It's only been a few weeks since he got an email from a State Department policy planner named Jared Cohen
inviting him to join the first tech delegation to post-invasion Iraq.
Now he's strapped in with eight other Silicon Valley executives, mostly
in their thirties, from Google, Twitter, YouTube, Blue State Digital,
WordPress, Howcast, and AT&T. When Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey got his invitation, "I just said yes," he recalls. YouTube's director of product management, Hunter Walk,
had to go down to his basement to find a suit to wear, because Cohen
insisted that the group dress like diplomats to show respect for their
hosts. Others worked their spouses for approval, repeating Cohen's
assurances that the security situation in Baghdad was much improved.
Howcast CEO Jason Liebman's mother thinks he's on a trip to LA. While a tag sale tries to pass as a tech boom, Alsumaria observes,
"Blazing Conflict between Arabs and Kurds in province threatens to
arouse tensions and split the province in two. Kurdish local councilors
in disputed region of Nineveh who boycotted all contacts with its Arab
governor Atheel al-Nujaifi vowed on Sunday to form their own splinter
council if disagreement with him fail to be resolved." UPI adds,
"The governor of the northern Iraqi province of Ninawa threatened to
dissolve municipal councils that he says run counter to the Iraqi
Constitution." Iran's Press TV provides this perspective: The
Kurds say that parts of the majority Arab Nineveh belong to their
ancient homeland and want them included in Iraq's semi-autonomous
region of Kurdistan. Kurds represent 16 of Nineveh's 37 seats in the
parliament.They complain
that Arab Governor, Atheel al-Nujaifi has marginalized them in the
provincial council since he was elected on January 31, restoring Arabs
to power.Should the problem
fail to be resolved, the Kurds will be forced to split the province
into two, forming their own splinter council to run the 16
administrative units, Kurdish councilor Derrman Khitari said on Sunday.
In addition to the rising tensions in Iraq over the
territorial boundaries, there is the issue of the water with many
neighbors of Iraq accused of building damns which divert the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers at a time when Iraq is facing massive drought. Alsumaria reports: Iraq's
Water Resources Ministry called on Monday for talks with Turkey and
Syria after the water flow in Euphrates River declined. The Ministry
declared in a statement that it urges to meet urgently with the three
countries’ Ministers and experts this coming August to tackle water
sharing.The statement also
confirmed that Euphrates' flow to Iraq "in the Hassaiba region near the
Iraq-Syria border is very low. Moreover, for the last 10 days flow
rates have not exceeded 250 cubic meters per second (m3/s) and these
quantities are not sufficient for agriculture and other needs", the
statement said.And we'll close with the opening of Debra Sweet's " "There has been no change in the Department of Justice": A Talk With Candace Gorman" (World Can't Wait): "There
has been no change in the Department of Justice" under the Obama
administration as far as the rights of the Guantanamo detainees. This
is one of the things Candace Gorman said on a special World Can't Wait
conference call on July 9th. The call brought activists closer to the
lives of front-line defenders of the torture detainees. Candace told us
in detail about the lives of her two clients, still in Guantanamo, one
of whom is seriously ill. Candace, who is an advisor to War Criminals
Watch, also talked about why she's put aside her other civil rights
work to concentrate on stopping war crimes. it was a privilege to share
an hour with her. I only thought we were closing. Amy Goodman's 'creative' this morning. Marcia's texting to say she's grabbing that tonight at her site and Betty
called to ask that I note she's covering the Sunday sewer that people
are e-mailing her about. Covering it tonight. We heard that and
couldn't believe it Sunday morning. Betty was planning then to make it
her Friday night post because Fridays can be slow (due to the news
cycle) but, with all the e-mails coming in, she's grabbing it tonight.
I'll also toss out that Elaine and Mike are back from their vacations and blogging at their sites and that Ann has started her own site. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqmuhanad mohammedtim cocksali al-mashhadanijon hemmingthe new york timessam dagherthe los angeles timesned parkeralsumariacnnjill doughertypress tvjake kurtzerrefugees internationaldeborah haynesthe times of londondebra sweetworld cant waitanns mega dublike maria said pazthomas friedman is a great manmikey likes itsickofitradlz
Posted at 06:39 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Size of the military continues to increase under Obama
In today's New York Times, Elizabeth Bumiller covers
Monday's announcement by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that the
US army will expand by an additional 22,000 soldiers due to what Gates
called the "persistent pace" of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. This is
Gates in his opening remarks: On
the recommendation of Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and Chief of
Staff of the Army General George Casey, and with President Obama's
strong support, today I am announcing a decision to temporarily
increase the active-duty end strength of the Army by up to 22,000. That
is a temporary increase from the current authorized end -- permanent
end strength of 547,000 to an authorized temporary end strength of
569,000 active-duty soldiers. I
came into this job in 2006 with the belief that we did not have enough
forces to properly support the extended pace of combat operations in
Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world. Shortly after taking office,
and mindful of the decision to surge additional forces into Iraq, I
recommended and the president and the Congress approved a permanent
increase in the size of the Army of 65,000 and the Marine Corps of
27,000. At the time, it was judged that these increases would sustain
the projected level of deployments and lower the stress on the force.
At the same time, I directed that the Army continue to reduce the size
of the nondeployable or institutional part of the force. Bumiller
notes the numbers in Iraq as approximately 130,000 and the numbers
"expected in Afghanistan" as 60,000. Walter Pincus' " Soldiers Question the Defense Secretary About Long Deployments" ( Washington Post -- be sure to check out AP's Heather Ainsworth's photo) covers a Fort Drum townhall Gates held on Friday: A
private first class in a support battalion, scheduled to go to Iraq,
asked whether, if troops don't complete their 12-month tour in that
country, they will be transferred to Afghanistan before coming home.
Gates said he didn't know for sure but he hopes such soldiers would be
brought home "because there is a different kind of training that goes
on for Afghanistan compared to Iraq." He said the units that will go to
Afghanistan to bring the total to 68,000, as authorized by President
Obama, had already been identified, and thus would not include those on
their way to Iraq.Gates
said he hedged his answer because "there may be some specific
specialties or specialized units that might be transferred" from Iraq
to Afghanistan but any increase before the end of this year would not
be "a lot."An artillery
sergeant asked about the likelihood that Army deployments to Iraq or
Afghanistan would be shortened to nine months or even six months. Gates
said that Casey, the chief of staff, "would really like to do that,"
noting that Marines are spending seven months deployed and seven at
home, Navy personnel are alternating six-month stints, and Air Force
tours are even shorter.Rotating
the Army's much larger number of troops in Iraq with a
less-than-one-year deployment would create an unacceptable logistics
problem, he said. He said a question he had with shorter rotations amid
a counterinsurgency is "Do we cut our capability -- because we cut our
experience level by the shorter tours?" Last Thursday,
a US base in Basra was attacked with mortars. On Friday, the US
military announced the deaths of three soldiers. KARE 11 (link has text and video) covers
the Basra memorial service for Daniel Drevnick (Woodbury, Minnesota),
James Wertish (Olivia, Minnesota) and Carlos Wlicox (Cottage Grove,
Minnesota). Military Families Speak Out
Annie McCabe raises the issue of sending the national guard overseas,
"I think it's a misuse of the national guard." She also notes,
"Obviously, it's too late for those three families -- it's too late for
a number of families. And we're going to lose more before this is
over." The report notes: Each
of the soldiers was serving his first tour of duty in Iraq. Of the
1,000 members of the 34th "Red Bull" Infantry Division currently
serving in Basra, 310 are on their second or third deployment, and 20
are taking their fourth tour of duty.And that fifteen
members of the Minnesota National Guard have died in Iraq since the
start of the Iraq War. The US military announced another death on
Sunday in Anbar Province. That was one of two deaths, from the same
region, the other wasn't noted by the US military and it was of an
Afghanistan War veteran. Sig Christenson (San Antonio Express-News) reports on the two deaths, noting that both were from New Braunfels: Lance Cpl. Brandon T. Lara, 20, was killed over the weekend in an attack in Anbar province.Retired
Army Reserve Lt. Col. Raymond Trejo Rivas died Wednesday in San Antonio
after battling to recover from head injuries suffered nearly three
years ago. He was 53.Their
deaths bring to 49 the number of troops from Bexar County killed in
Iraq and Afghanistan. They are the area's first war deaths this year."It really came as a shock," Rivas' wife, Colleen, said Monday. "It was not expected."Teri Figueroa (North County Times) notes
Brandon T. Lara's death and, "In the six years since the invasion of
Iraq, Camp Pendleton has lost 345 troops, second only to the 484 from
the Army's Fort Hood in Texas, according to icasualities.org, and
Twentynine Palms has lost 115 troops." The following community sites updated last night: The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqthe new york timeselisabeth bumillerthe washington postwalter pincussig christensonsan antionio express-newsteri figueroathe north county timesanns mega dublike maria said pazkats kornersex and politics and screeds and attitudethomas friedman is a great mantrinas kitchenthe daily jotcedrics big mixmikey likes itruths reportsickofitradlzoh boy it never ends
Posted at 06:37 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday,
July 20, 2009. Chaos and violence continue, waves of violence claim the
lives of at least 6 Iraqi police officers, the refugee crisis
continues, tensions between the KRG and the centeral government in
Baghdad mount, and more. Starting with Iraqi refugees. Today the International Committee of the Red Cross explains
they "issued travel documents to 96 Palestinian refugees from Al-Waleed
Camp (Anbar Governorate) to enable them to travel to Europe and the
United States, where they will be resettled with the help of the office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the
International ORganization for Migration." Last week, Miriam Jordan (Wall St. Journal) reports
that the US has agreed to take in 1,350 Palestinian refugees from Iraq
--from among the over 3,000 refugees stuck in the 'camps' between Iraq
and Syria. Jordan quoted University of California Hastings College of
Law's professor George Bisharat stating, "These particular Palestinians
are a fallout from the Iraq War. The Obama administration had to take
some responsibility for the consequneces of the invasion." Patrik Jonsson (Christian Science Monitor -- link has text and video) had earlier reported that the refugees would "be resetteled in the US". However, Stephen Kaufman, writing at and for the US government at America.gov,
doesn't say these refugees have been accepted, he states (on July 13th)
that they "are being considered" for admittance to the US and sites the
US State Dept as the source for that: "A State Department spokesman
told America.gov July 13 that the resettlement process for the group
actually began in 2008, and so far 24 Palestinians from Iraq have
arrived in the United States." While the
refugees need to be offered asylum in the US, what sort of life awaits
them? Not a good one if most reports are any indication. Fields Moseley (Utah's KUTV) reports
on Raida Jarjes and Taofiq Rasheed, husband and wife Iraqi refugees
living in Utah after being granted asylum following many years of
waiting in Syria. In Iraq, she was a journalist, he was an attorney
but here in the US they are among "50 refugee families [who] might be
in the homeless shelter next month." Moseley explains, "The Rasheeds
are foreign professionals without jobs, a common story among Iraqi
refugees. They were delivered to this apartment complex and told a job
should be their first priority. They received $920 each from the state
department and a couple hundred bucks follows each week. But it won't
last." The State Coordinator for Refguee Resettlement, Gerald Brwon,
tells Moseley, "We are not able to find people jobs at the rate we have
to if they have to pay rent." Saundra Amrhein (St. Petersburg Times) reports
on Hayder Abudlwahab and his family (Iman, his wife, and their two
sons) who escaped Iraq, made it to Syria and finally were accepted into
the US, settling in Tampa in August 2008. They left Iraq after
Hayder was injured in a bombing and "awoke on a pile of bodies in a
Baghdad morgue. [. . .] Paralyzed, blinded, unable to scream, Hayder
lay in a jumble of bodies. Knobby bones poked him from underneath, a
still-warm arm lay across his side. The smell of rot was
overwhelming." Now they live in Tampa trying very hard to make ends
meet and just to make rent each month. Earlier this month, Aamer Madhani (USA Today) explained there
was a 3.1% increase this year in "no-shows" for Iraqi refugees granted
asylum to the US who do not take make the "U.S. government-paid flights
out of Iraq" and that "the reluctance is a reflection of the
difficulties faced by thousands of Iraqis who have arrived in the U.S.
since 2006." Not all Iraqi refugees are struggling to those extremes. Maureen Sieh (Syracuse Post-Standard) noted,
In the last year, 130 Iraqi refugees have been settled in Syracuse by
refugee programs run by Catholic Charities and Interfaith Works Center
for New Americans." Most charity programs have dried up in the US due
to the economy and/or disinterest. Mosques and churches are among the
few that remain. What of the US government's obligation? Last week
the Boston Globe offered the editorial What are they doing for refugees? In it's most recent [PDF format warning] report on Iraq,
the US State Dept notes that "as many as 2 million Iraqi refugees" are
being housed by "regional governments," an estimated 2.8 million are
currently displaced within Iraq and then they offer a dollar figure . .
. for Fiscal Year 2008. FY2008 ended months before Barack Obama was
sworn in. Fiscal Year 2009, the current year, is nearly over. It ends
at the end of September. March 20, 2009, much was made of the
announcement of pledges by the US in excess of $141 million which was
added to the stingy sum of $9 million that had already been
'committed.' Have those pledges been honored, has the money -- $90
million to UNHCR, $15.5 million to UNICEF, for example -- been paid
out? Were the pledges honored? Yvonne Abraham (Boston Globe) pointed out
another area of concern yesterday, "The federal government desperately
needs Arabic speakers, particularly ones who know the Middle East.
Hundreds of the Iraqis who worked with US forces are now here, and
desperately need jobs. Yet nobody seems to have come up with a way to
match our needs with theirs. Kirk Johnson, whose List Project brings
Iraqis who helped American forces to the United States, said only a few
have found work as government translators here. The rest are shut out
because the security hurdles are too high, or because they're not
citizens." The
consequences of the upstream damming of Iraq's rivers, when compounded
with a general trend towards the reduction in rainfall entering the two
river basins, is having a severe impact on the Iraqi breadbasket's
ability to feed its population. The World Food Programme estimates that
some 930,000 people are currently food-insecure in Iraq, with a further
6.4 million at risk of becoming food-insecure in the event of the
failure of the Public Distribution System (PDS). Resettlement of
internally displaced refugees and the potential return of the millions
of Iraqis from Jordan and Syria all have the potential to place a
further burden on this fragile system. Adam L Silverman, who worked as
a social science adviser for the US army human terrain teams in 2008, noted that lack of river discharge
leads to "ongoing soil erosion that leads to further desertification
and increased heat and dust storms, which has a measurable negative
impact on the quality of life of the Iraqis". Reuters reported that the sandstorms
that delayed Biden's trip led to several deaths and "hundreds of Iraqis
seeking medical help after one of the worst sandstorms in living memory
stretched beyond a week, choking throats, clogging eyes and afflicting
asthma sufferers in particular". "The Iraqi refugee crisis is far from over and recent violence is creating further displacement," notes Refugees International,
"Iraqi women will resist returning home, even if conditions improve in
Iraq, if there is no focus on securing their rights as women and
assuring their personal security and their families' well being."
Refugees International's latest report is [PDF format warning] entitled
" IRAQI REFUGEES: WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND SECURITY CRITICAL TO RETURNS."
It finds that not only are large scale returns not coming in the
immediate future but that "[n]ot one woman interviewed by RI indicated
her intention to return. Some women said they won't return because
they are members of targeted minority groups, or because of injuries
they suffered. . . . Some fear rising conservatism would restrict their
ability to participate in civic and professional life. . . . Others
feared they were at risk of so called 'honor killings' by family
members because they refused marriages, had divorced, or were accused
of prostitution." The field report found reoprts of forced marriages
in Syria and the KRG. In Syria, "an Iraqi women working as a singer in
a restaurant . . . was attacked by three men and raped. When she
reported the crime to the police and asked for assistance, she was
arrested, detained for six days, and threatened with deportation for
working illegally. UNHCR finally obtained her release, but her
assailants were never arrested." The report notes: In
northern Iraq, the KRG has taken some welcome steps to respond to the
disturbingly high levels of reported gender-based violence (GBV),
particularly so-called "honor killings," burnings and other attacks on
women, often disguised as accidents or suicides. Recent higher GBV
statistics in KRG may indicate a greater willingness to report such
crimes, but further visible government support for women's rights is
sorely need throughout Iraq. The KRG,
unlike the Government of Iraq, has supsended laws providing for
"mitigating circumstances" to reduce the punishments for so-called
"honor" crimes and has increased the penalties. Its Prime Minster set
up a Cabinet-level Committee on Violence against Women and set up and
staffed in each KRG governorate a "Directorate to Follw up Violence
against Women." The offices conduct outreach and public education and
investigate cases to turn over to the prosecutor. To protect women at
risk of serious violence, the KRG and nongovernmental organizations
operate small residential shelters. However, staff has little training
or experience on security, confidentiality, or the counseling skills
needed to assist clients. RI learned of recent incidents of women
being trafficked from shelters. The
KRG could enhance these institutions' effectiveness and credibility by
appointing experienced women to senior leadership posts in the Cabinet
Committee and the Directorates, by regulating the shelters, and by
ensuring shelter staff receive training and oversight. Donors should
provide technical assistance through deploying specialist in
investigations, witness protection, counseling, and helping to create
standard operating procedures for temporary shelters. Donors should
increase support to local NGOs experienced in GBV prevention and
response services. Help is also needed in ensuring the wider
distribution of public education materials in both Kurdish and Arabic,
since higher levels of domestic violence are reported in the displaced
population, which has not benefitted from any government outreach. Moving to the Kurdistan region of Iraq. July 25th, they hold their provincial elections as well as elect a president. Nada Bakri (Washington Post) notes
the region is "simultaneously considered the most democratic in Iraq
and not all that democratic. Two main parties -- [KRG President
Masoud] Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan, headed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani -- have for years
exercised a stranglehold on the region, dividing between them politics,
patronage, investments and business deals." Pakistan's The National observes
that a vote was also supposed to be held "to approve the new
constitution, but a hurried intervention by the US vice president Joe
Biden and warnings from Baghdad have persuaded Kurdish leaders to
postpone that referendum. Kurdish anxiety is understandable. . . .
The Kurds now appear to feel that the goodwill they displayed when they
were strong brought few benefits." All weekend the tensions between
the KRG and the centeral government in Baghdad continued to increase. Mehid Lebouachera (Kuwait Times) explained
the roots of the tensions as follows: "Six years after the US-led
invasion in which Kurdish rebel groups were key allies, their
decades-old claims to historically Kurdish-inhabited areas remain
unresolved by the new Iraqi government in which they hold both the
presidency and a deputy premiership. And opposition to the Kurdish
demands remains as strong as ever, not only among the Sunni Arab
minority that dominated Saddam Hussein's ousted regime but also among
the Shiite majority community that leads the new government and among
ethnice minorities such as Turkemn. As time drags on, Kurdish leaders
have voiced mounting frustration at the impasse in their talks with
Baghdad, sparking an increasingly heated war of words with Arab
politicians." Lebouachera explains the tensions
over unresolved borders. There are a number of disputed territories
but let's zoom in on oil-rich Kirkuk. Nouri al-Maliki was installed by
the US over three years ago. That's important. The 2005 Constitution,
which went into effect in the final third of 2005 -- mere months before
Nouri was installed -- promised an independent census of Kirkuk and a
2007 referendum. Nouri came to power and didn't get on that issue.
Following the 2006 mid-term elections in the US, when both houses of
Congress were handed over to Democrats (November, 2006), the White
House, under pressure on the never-ending illegal war, began talking
benchmarks for 'success.' The White House defined those benchmarks and
Nouri signed off on them. The benchmarks included resolving the issue
of Kirkuk. 2007. Two years later and still nothing.
Not only
throughout the illegal war, but also before it began, it was always
known that Kirkuk was a divisive issue. (Hence the September 1998 White
House meeting with Jalal Talabani, Kurd and current president of Iraq,
and Masoud Barzani, Kurd and current president of the KRG; as well as
the passage of in October 2002 of legislation by the Kurdish parliament
preparing for the Iraq War.) Saddam Hussein ran Kurds out of the area
and installed Arabs. The Kurds see Kirkuk as their land. The land is
oil-rich and the Arabs aren't eager to hand it over to Kurdish control.
So
despite the fact that Nouri came into office mere months after the
Constitution went into effect (calling for resolution of the Kirkuk
issue) and despite the fact that, in 2007, he signed off on benchmarks
which included resolving the Kirkuk issue, he's done nothing. There has
been no referendum, there hasn't even been a census.
Last
summer, lands the Kurds consider their own were nearly invaded by Iraqi
forces in what some saw as an attempted take over and others saw as a
'crackdown' or assault similar to what Nouri staged on Basra in March
of last year. It was a very tense situation and war could have erupted
right then. Unlike the Shi'ite - Sunni conflict which was more ethnic
cleansing due to the fact that the Sunnis are not in power and do not
have the numbers that the Shi'ites, the KRG has its own army, has its
own forces and the tensions do not cease, if these issues aren't
resolved, it's not unlikely that real civil war will break out in Iraq.
A real one. Not ethnic cleansing being 'prettied up' with the phrase
'civil war.' Not a bunch of powerless minorities being killed and run
out of the country, but a full on war. But that doesn't seem to be a concern to the US installed government. Jamal al-Badrani (Reuters) reports
that, as nothing is done regarding disputed territories, Kurds in
Nineveh Province have issued statements threatening to secede but
that's apparently not cause for concern either. And all the statements
being made by KRG officials? Apparently not a concern either. AFP reports
that Massud Barzani, president of the KRG, stated yesterday, "We are
committed to the application of Article 140 (of the Iraqi constitution)
and we rpomise that we will absolutely not compromise on this issue or
on the rights of the people of Kurdistan." Article 140 requires an
independent census in Kirkuk and a referendum to take place no later
than . . . December 2007. This is not a minor detail nor is it something once touched on and then forgotten. Saturday, the KRG's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani gave a speech and it included the following:In
formulating policy for our government, we have always been committed to
the Iraqi Constitution and protection of the interests of the Kurdistan
Region and all of Iraq.
As you are all aware, recent tensions have
occasionally surfaced with the federal, central government over pending
issues.
It is clear that, as long as those issues
remain unresolved; this will threaten the stability that we all aspire
to achieve in Iraq.
I would like to address this
matter openly. What we in the Kurdistan Regional Government want to
achieve is to resolve these issues peacefully and in accordance with
the terms and conditions enshrined in the Iraqi Constitution, for which
80% of Iraqis voted.
We have always been ready in the past,
and we are ready and willing now to sit at the negotiating table with
the federal government and talk with those who possess the will to
solve these issues.
Sometimes we in the
Kurdistan Region are accused of being too firm and insistent in our
demands. But I would like Iraqis and the whole world to be aware of two
things:
First, our insistence on the commitment to the
Constitution and its guarantees for freedom and democracy emerge
directly from our history.
We in the
Kurdistan Region have suffered greatly as the result of agreements
which were unfulfilled and promises which were ignored.
In
order for us to live in peace and stability, we want our rights to be
protected. This will take place as a result of permanent agreements by
which all concerned will abide, in accordance with Constitutional
principles. We don't have any hidden agenda in Iraq.
Second, for
those who say that we cannot negotiate seriously, there are tangible
examples of how the KRG has participated seriously in negotiations that
have led to historic results. Therefore, we can engage in a similar
manner with Baghdad in this regard.
We want to be a reliable and cooperative partner with the federal government. Our vision of security,
stability and prosperity for the Kurdistan Region requires a peaceful
and cooperative relationship and coordination with all of Iraq and with
Baghdad and we will continue with this policy in the Kurdistan
Region.
All that we ask for is to have a
relationship within the framework of the Constitution, which is the
highest law of the land and the greatest guarantee to us that history
will not repeat itself. Our
message is clear. The Kurdistan Regional Government is ready and
hopeful that serious dialogue will resume with the federal government
to solve the issues according to Constitutional principles and within a
federal, democratic Iraq.
Our insistence on resolving the issues are
with the aim of guaranteeing a bright future for our people and the
prevention of any repetition of our tragic history. Meanwhile, do-nothing Nouri is headed to the US. Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reports
Nouri, who has been making disparging remarks about US service members
lately, intends to visit Arlington Cementary while visiting the White
House. Reportedly he plans to pay his 'respects' -- non-existant ones
to judge by his recent remarks. She quotes Nouri al-Maliki's boy-toy
Sami Askari declaring, ""The Democrats were in opposition to George
Bush so they tended not to see his positive points, only to concentrate
on the negative ones. So I think the prime minister needs to say this:
That as a people, we are not ignoring what others did for us. Every
Iraqi who goes to Washington needs to make clear that the war was not a
failure." Save the fantasy talk for Nouri, Askari. Nouri made quite
clear to Barack last summer what he thought of Bully Boy Bush. The idea
that after running Bush down (no problem with that here), Nouri's now
going to counsel Barack on the 'good' in George W.'s efforts is
laughable. What's not being reported are rumors that Biden has
scheduled a high-level meeting with Nouri and former Ba'athists for
this visit. Those are rumors. When Biden visited Iraq, Nouri remainded
non-committal to the idea and indicated he would weigh a meet up with
Ba'athists and Arab neighbors. Shortly after Biden departed Iraq, Nouri
began issuing fiery statements indicating otherwise. Nouri's personal press representative Mike Tharp of McClatchy Newspapers and Nouri's Ass raves like he's audtioning for Pat Newcomb: The Movie, insisting
-- in a non-journalistic manner -- that Nouri is "the popular leader of
an American ally, the prime minister of an increasingly
independent-minded country". When Mike gets the taste of Nouri's ass
washed out of his mouth, someone inform him that Nouri's a thug and a
US installed puppet currently testing the length and tethering of his
leash. If Tharp's behavior seems shocking, you
must have missed this weekend when he made like Eric Carmen serenading
Nouri with "All By Myself" ("Don't wanna bee all by myself . . .") as he insisted
that the Iraqi forces, all by themselves, protected the pilgrims -- all
by themselves! Like the Nouri publicist he's become, he was gushing
about "their first big test" and how they "passed" "with flying
colors"! and all by themselves . . . He quoted Iraqi military
spokesmodel Qaasim Atta stating, "This is the first 100 percent Iraqi
security plan to protec the pilgrims. The forces are Iraqis, even the
helicopters above." Problem was Mohammed al Dulaimy already reported
that US helicopters -- two of them -- were hovering over Baghdad. So
Tharp buried that reality in the thirteenth paragraph of his eighteen
paragraph p.r. copy. From Thursday through Saturday, Tharp babbled, no
deaths and Iraqi security forces did it all by themselves! If you
leave out the two helicopters. And if you leave out what Muhanad Mohammed (Reuters) reported,
"Cameras on air balloons monitored the site, the surveillance provided
by the U.S. military at Iraq's request." Leave that out too in order
to sing "All By Myself." Leave out the fact that AP reported Saturday of the pilgrimage, "The event was a relative success, despite bombings that killed several people and injured dozens." Leave out that Alsumaria reported on Saturday's pilgrimage:
"One citizen was killed and tens pilgrims were wounded as they were
heading to Imam Moussa Al Kazem shrine (AS) due to roadside bomb
explosions in Zaafaraniya, New Baghdad, Al Saydiya and Al Dora region."
But no deaths and Iraqi forces did it all by themselves. Think we're
going to need some louder voices on the chorus in order to drown out
realities such as the fact that the US forces, stepping away from Iraq
cities, have been doing more work along the route of the pilgrims.
Baghdad's the destination. But the pilgrims don't fly in to Baghad
International, step onto the tarmac and rush to the shrine. That's not
how it works. But if you're stupid enough, if you're as stupid as the
press hopes you are, you will be grinning and swearing, "Mission
accomplished!" Here on planet earth, we gasp at the billions of Iraqi dollars Nouri sits on while people the starve. Aljazeera explains,
"Abject poverty across Iraq is fuelling an illegal trade in human
organs. Hundreds of people are believed to have sold kidneys and other
organs through dealers in the capital, Baghdad, over the last year. . .
. About 23 per cent of Iraqis live in poverty, meaning that they are
forced to survive on $2.2 a day or less, according to government
figures." Let's drop back to the July 14th snapshot: And the river dries up as Jenan Hussein (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
on the poverty, "Beggars have become as visible as blast walls and
checkpoints in Iraqi cities. Government ministries don't have reliable
statistics, partly because those who beg fear official crackdowns on
their only livelihood. It's a problem the government has yet to
tackle." This happens as the Oil Ministry brags
it has "acheived (59.1000) million barrels with (3.378) billion dollars
incomes with daily average of (4.400) barrels per day for May and the
raise was (686) million dollars. In comparison with April which
achieved (54.700) million barrels with (2.692) billion dollars incomes."We probably shouldn't begrudge Nouri having Mike Tharp as his p.r. agent -- clearly Nouri needs all the spin control he can get. Meanwhile Gabriel Gatehouse (BBC News) reports that tensions are escalating between the Iraqi military and the US military over their roles. Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) adds
that this revolves around the security agreements (primarily the treaty
masquerading as a SOFA), "The conflicting interpretations of the
security agrement, U.S. officials said, have led to numerous standoffs
on the ground, including cases in which Iraqi soldiers have prevented
American convoys from passing through checkpoints." Help us out, US
forces are still in Iraq why? It's not to protect Iraqi women, it's
not to protect Iraqi Christians, it's not to protect Iraq's LGBT
community, so why are they still there? To be sitting ducks? Thomas
E. Ricks ( Foreign Policy) offers two more examples of the unraveling of Iraq today -- here for first one, here for second. Friday a helicopter crashed in Iraq. CNN reported
it was an "Xe" (Blackwater) helicopter and that two employees died and
another two were wounded. Yesterday afternoon, the US State Dept
issued the following statement:
The
Department of State is deeply saddened by the deaths of two employees
of Xe Consulting during a helicopter crash in Iraq on July 17 and
extends our heartfelt sympathies to their families. Our thoughts are
also with the two men who were injured in this incident and their
families. These men played an important role in assisting the
Department in protecting American diplomats and missions in
Iraq.
The
Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security is coordinating with
appropriate U.S. and Iraqi officials regarding an investigation into
the cause of the crash.
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . . Bombings? Reuters reports
a Baghdad car bombing which left four people injured, a Mosul roadside
bombing which injured a police officer and a bystander, a Mosul bombing
which injured a police officer, a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed
the life of 1 Iraqi police officer, a Ramadi car bombing which claimed
the lives of 2 Iraqi police officers, left one injured as well as three
bystanders and a Baghdad roadside bombing which left nine people
injured. Mohammed al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad sticky bombing which injured Capt Humadi Othman (of Facilities Protection Services) and one other person. Shootings? Reuters reports
1 police officer shot dead in central Mosul, 1 police officer shot dead
in southwest Mosul, 1 police officer shot dead in east Mosul and 1
Iraqi soldier shot dead in southeast Mosul. Sunday the US military announced:
"AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq – A Multi National Force – West Marine was
killed in a combat-related incident as a result of enemy action here
July 19. The Marine's name is being withheld pending next-of-kin
notification and release through the U.S. Department of Defense
official website at http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/." The announcement brought to 4327 the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war. If
you're in the DC area I encourage you to join the Human Rights
Campaign, Human Rights Watch and the National LGBT Bar Association for
a unique event in Washington, D.C. to support lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender Iraqis who have fled their home
country. On
Friday, July 24, spokesmen for a group of twenty LGBT Iraqi refugees
undergoing their resettlement process will be in Washington, D.C. to
bring attention to their struggle and raise money to support LGBT Iraqi
refugees still in the Middle East. Since
the U.S. invasion, sectarian violence and fundamentalist religious
leaders have filled a power vacuum left by the war that has made life
for LGBT Iraqis increasingly unbearable. In recent months,
international media have reported that LGBT Iraqis face kidnapping,
torture, horrific sexual violence, death threats and
murder. Start your weekend off with a reception that may save lives. All proceeds from the fundraiser go to support Helem,
a Lebanese LGBT organization that has provided food, shelter and
clothing to LGBT Iraqi refugees currently undergoing their resettlement
process. What: Fundraiser to Support LGBT Iraqi Refugees
When: Friday, July 24, 2009
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Human Rights Campaign Equality Center
1640 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20036,
(at the intersection of Rhode Island Avenue and 17th Street)
Cost: Please bring your checkbook or credit card and donate as you can. For questions or more information, please contact Eric Wingerter at iraqrefugeelgbt@gmail.com
Also in the US, Walter Cronkite passed away Friday at the age of 92. The former anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News was remembered today on CBS News' online web program Washington Unplugged. Sharing their memories and evaluations were CBS News' Bob Schieffer, who hosts the program, Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post
and Marvin Kalb who worked for CBS News and NBC News (and earned the
honor of making Tricky Dick's enemies list). CBS News honored Cronkite
last night in prime time with a special and you can find it online at CBS' website (text and video). At her website, under news videos,
Carly Simon has taped the following message (currently plays after
beauty tips for looking older -- a humorous video; good morning and
work on mixing her forthcoming album due out later this year): My
sister Joey [opera singer Joanna Simon] and Walter Cronkite were very
much in love and spent pretty much the last four years of his life
together. Joey took care of him night and day when he was sick. And
Walter loved her and she loved him and she will always love him -- as
we all will. He never said anything that wasn't absolutely real. He
was an impeccable human being and this message is for everybody who
loved him and will continue to. Peter Simon tells K.C. Myers (Cape Cod Times),
"They were an adorable couple. To see them together, it was so
moving. They were so in love with each other. Now she's going through
a terrible loss." Kate Nocera and Erin Durkin (New York Daily News) quote
Joanna Simon stating, "He loved to sail. Sometimes we would take day
sails. Other times, we would go to Nantucket or Newport. One time we
sailed up the coast of Maine. [. . . .] My entire life with Walter gave
me such great joy. Now, without him, I'm kind of at a loss as to what
to do with the rest of my life. I go through waves. Sometiimes I'm
okay. Sometimes I just want to turn the clock back." In 1962, with
the New York City Opera, Joanna Simon made her debut in The Marriage of Fiagaro.
It was the start of a highly accomplished and praised career. Walter
Cronkite is survived by his three children Chip Cronkite, Kathy
Cronkite and Nancy Cronkite and by his four grandchildren John
Macintosh Cronkite-Ikard, Peter Cronkite, William Maxwell
Cronkite-Ikard and Walter Cronkite IV.
Posted at 02:51 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
US military sitting ducks, 6 Iraqi police officers killed
The
tip was as alarming as it was unusual. A Sunni insurgent cell was
planning a mortar attack on a large U.S. base adjacent to Baghdad's
airport.
A credible informant told U.S. intelligence officials
Tuesday morning that several mortars launching from nearby Amiriyah, a
quiet neighborhood that had not been a staging ground for rocket or
mortar attacks since 2007, would rain down shells on the base that
night.
Over the next few days, Capt. Dustin Navarro and his Iraqi
army counterpart wrangled over the appropriate response. They met,
argued, sparred and compromised. In the end, two things became evident:
First, Iraqi and American commanders have markedly different notions of
what U.S. troops in Baghdad are entitled to do to protect themselves
under a security agreement that went into effect July 1 and that
sharply limits U.S. activity in Iraqi cities. The above is from Ernesto Londono's " U.S. Troops in Iraq Find Little Leeway" ( Washington Post)
which examines the US role as babysitters and sitting ducks, as targets
and and lightening rods. Read it and wonder how anyone can justify the
continuation of the US presence in Iraq? All US troops need to be out
of Iraq and out of Iraq right now. It may take a Somolia type incident
for that realization to really hit home. If such an incident takes
place, there will be little of the deference (wrongly) shown to the
current administration in the US. If that happens, Barack will have to
explain just what the hell is doing? It's something a real peace
movement would have forced him to explain months ago -- around the time
he dropped his "one brigade out a month" claim. We don't have a
peace movement in this country currently (maybe it can be rebuilt) just
like we don't have independent media. We do have Panhandle Media and, if you doubt that, catch the first half of Democracy Now! today where Queen of all Beggars Amy Goodman is joined by fellow street 'reporters' Robert Parry and Danny Schechter.
Listen to the whines and roll your eyes, listen to the self-pity and
laugh. Robert Parry, who utilized non-stop sexism throughout 2008,
insists, "We have to build something different." Yes, WE do. Something
without your sexist garbage. Something without your dated, fumbling
approach that is not worth supporting with time or money. What's your
excuse? You've always got an excuse. People aren't giving you enough
money! Whine, whine, whine. You've been around for over a decade and
what the hell have you accomplished online, what can you point to? How
pathetic. And no, we don't care if you go under. You have earned your
reputation as sexist supreme and we're not supporting you. Danny
Schechter. No one breaks my heart as much as Danny. He knows
sexism is wrong. He refused to call out in 2008. He had a million
different excuses for staying silent. At one point, he was maintaining
privately that Hillary made an issue out of being a woman so certain
'critiques' were okay but, at the same time, he was maintaining that
Hillary didn't call out the sexism and that's why others stayed silent.
It's funny how in both 'rationales,' the source of the attacks is
blamed. You get that, right? In the first one, it's her fault for
allegedly making an issue out of being a woman. (She didn't do that.
Others -- people on the left who loathed her -- did that throughout
2007 and it was repeated over and over and accepted as fact.) In the
second one, the silence on the sexist attacks are her fault as well
because she didn't do this or she didn't do that. She was attacked and it's all her fault? That's a new media we need to support? We need to support a new media that's nothing but a Democratic Party organ? Robert
Parry and Danny both spent this year being just that. (Danny's shown
more independence in the last few weeks.) An independent media should
not be taking sides in an election and it certainly should not be
rendering Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney's presidential runs
invisible. Every time Parry or Danny wrote of Obama's campaign (which
was basically every time they wrote), they should have also been
covering Ralph and Cynthia's. They didn't. Because covering
those campaigns required more work than thumbing through the New York
Times that day and keeping a half-eye on MSNBC. it required a little
work. And the ones who want money now, don't understand why people are
sick of it? An independent media is not an arm of the Democratic
Party. An independent media does not take partisan sides. It can be
left, absolutely. But left does not mean Democratic cheerleader. And
that's all our so-called 'alternative' media is today with very few
exceptions. Lastly, on Sunday nights, the hour 60 Minutes airs in? That's prime time. It's considered prime time, it has been considered prime time for decades. So if CBS shelved 60 Minutes
last night to air a tribute to Walter Cronkite (I have no idea when it
aired, I don't sit in front of the TV), they did present a prime time
special on Cronkite. As for the claim regarding the burial of
Cronkite's remarks on Vietnam, Ava and I caught Meet The Press Sunday morning.
That's the last TV program I've watched and, on that broadcast, in
their tiny minute devoted to Cronkite, the Vietnam moment was noted. I
have no idea what other programs noted or didn't note but a program
that doesn't know what prime time is really isn't a program whose media
'critique' I put a great deal of trust in. To Saturday's entry, add this from Muhanad Mohammed (Reuters):
"Cameras on air balloons monitored the site, the surveillance provided
by the U.S. military at Iraq's request. " And thank you to a friend at
CNN for passing that along, I had missed it. Last week say 3 US
soldiers killed by mortars targeting a US base. Among the claims
surfacing since then is that the suspect is backed by Iran. Iran's Press TV counters: Political
insiders say reports that an Iranian-backed militant has been arrested
in Iraq are designed to divert attention from the US role in regional
violence.An Iraqi police
official told the Associated Press on Sunday that a member of an
Iranian-backed militia has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in
a terrorist attack that killed three US soldiers on Thursday,.An
informed source speaking on conditions of anonymity said Monday that
suchlike reports are circulated by US intelligence agencies and the
powerful remnants of the Ba'ath Party in a bid to portray Iran as the
enemy and influence Iraqi people against their better judgment. Violence continues in Iraq. Reuters reports
multiple shootings and two bombings: a Mosul roadside bombing which
claimed the life of 1 police officer, a Ramadi car bombing which
claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi police officers with a third injured and
three bystanders also wounded, 1 police officer shot dead in east
Mosul, 1 police officer shot dead in southwest Mosul and 1 off-duty
police officer shot dead in central Mosul. Six Iraqi police officers
killed in today's violence. Bonnie reminds that Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barry and TOTUS" went up last night. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqthe washington posternesto londonodemocracy nowdanny schechterthe world today just nuts
Posted at 06:20 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Nouri on one side, the people of Iraq on the other
Abject poverty across Iraq is fuelling an illegal trade in human organs.Hundreds
of people are believed to have sold kidneys and other organs through
dealers in the capital, Baghdad, over the last year.[. . .]About
23 per cent of Iraqis live in poverty, meaning that they are forced to
survive on $2.2 a day or less, according to government figures.Unemployment
is also high, with at least 18 per cent of the population out of work,
UN and government reports suggest. Unofficial estimates have put the
figure as high as 30 per cent.The
organ brokers who arrange the deals between the desperately poor and
those desperate enough to pay to save the life of a loved one,
typically congregate around the hospitals. The above is from Aljazeera's " Poverty drives Iraq organ trade"
and file it under Operation Iraqi 'Freedom.' And file it under: "Nouri
for the people." As Nouri sits on those stacks and stacks of money, the
people under the puppet suffer. Dropping back to the July 14th snapshot: And the river dries up as Jenan Hussein (McClatchy Newspapers) reports
on the poverty, "Beggars have become as visible as blast walls and
checkpoints in Iraqi cities. Government ministries don't have reliable
statistics, partly because those who beg fear official crackdowns on
their only livelihood. It's a problem the government has yet to
tackle." This happens as the Oil Ministry brags
it has "acheived (59.1000) million barrels with (3.378) billion dollars
incomes with daily average of (4.400) barrels per day for May and the
raise was (686) million dollars. In comparison with April which
achieved (54.700) million barrels with (2.692) billion dollars incomes."Will
anyone have the courage to challenge Nouri during his DC visit? Or are
we all supposed to still pretend "poor Nouri"? He's been in office for
over three years. He's enriched himself. He's done very, very little
for the Iraqi people. Among the segments of Iraqis currently
suffering are the country's LGBT community. While Nouri looks the other
way, the LGBT community is targeted repeatedly. This includes targeting
and homophobia from Nouri's police force. And without a peep from
Nouri. (Not a peep from Barack Obama either.) The Lesbian and Gay Foundation (UK) announces a fundraiser for Iraq's LGBT commnity: Liverpool's Iraqi lesbian and gay society are hosting a charity fundraiser for LGBT Iraq.Amnesty International have reported that the situation in Iraq is "unclear". Homosexual
acts have been legal in Iraq since 2003. However, the Amnesty
International website reports that the current Government in Iraq has
issued a decree allowing Sharia laws (death penalty for homosexuals) to
be enforced. LGBT Iraqis are now targeted for persecution and execution. According to The New York Times; in 2005, Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued a religious decree that said gay men and lesbians should be “punished, in fact, killed… The people should be killed in the worst, most severe way of killing.” Iraqi LGBT Lifeline
estimates that, since December 2004, there have been as many as 600
homophobic murders of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people
or those perceived to be. In the past
four months alone as many as 65 bodies of those suspected of being
“homosexual” have turned up with notes attached to their bodies with
the word “pervert” written in Arabic. These figures do not include
those who have survived homophobically motivated kidnapping, involving
physical assault which often consists of sexual humiliation. The BBC have consistently reported on attacks targetting LGBT people in Iraq. In
April of this year the BBC reported on a campaign against gay men in
Iraq which activists say has claimed the lives of more than 60 since
December. Also in April Amnesty
International claimed that 25 boys and men were reported to have been
killed in Baghdad over a three week period because they were, or were
perceived to be, gay. Iraqi LGBT
began establishing a network of safe houses inside Iraq in March 2006.
As of today, they operate only one safe house, having been forced to
close three since the beginning of 2009 due to the expense of running
them. The members of their group
inside Iraq urgently need the funds to open at least five safe houses.
These funds will allow them to keep the safe houses running, thereby
providing safety, shelter, food and many other needs for LGBT people in
Iraq. For more information about Iraqi LGBT, click here. The Fundraiser - Chew Disco - is taking place in Liverpool on Friday 7 August. There will be a whole host of punk and post punk bands playing including Vile Vile Creatures, Ste McCabe and Husbands aswell as some riotous DJs. Chew Disco is taking place at Magnet, 45 Hardman Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 9AS. Doors open at 8pm till 4am (£4 adv / £5 Door (£4 NUS). For tickets, click here. Every
penny received will go directly to Iraqi LGBT (London) and their Safe
Houses Project which provides emergency shelter, human services and
protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Iraq. That's in August and in England. In the US later this month. This is Michael Cole's " DC Event: Help LGBT Iraqi Refugees" (HRC): If
you’re in the DC area I encourage you to join the Human Rights
Campaign, Human Rights Watch and the National LGBT Bar Association for
a unique event in Washington, D.C. to support lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender Iraqis who have fled their home country. On
Friday, July 24, spokesmen for a group of twenty LGBT Iraqi refugees
undergoing their resettlement process will be in Washington, D.C. to
bring attention to their struggle and raise money to support LGBT Iraqi
refugees still in the Middle East. Since
the U.S. invasion, sectarian violence and fundamentalist religious
leaders have filled a power vacuum left by the war that has made life
for LGBT Iraqis increasingly unbearable. In recent months,
international media have reported that LGBT Iraqis face kidnapping,
torture, horrific sexual violence, death threats and murder. Start your weekend off with a reception that may save lives. All proceeds from the fundraiser go to support Helem,
a Lebanese LGBT organization that has provided food, shelter and
clothing to LGBT Iraqi refugees currently undergoing their resettlement
process. What: Fundraiser to Support LGBT Iraqi Refugees
When: Friday, July 24, 2009
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Human Rights Campaign Equality Center
1640 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20036,
(at the intersection of Rhode Island Avenue and 17th Street)
Cost: Please bring your checkbook or credit card and donate as you can. For questions or more information, please contact Eric Wingerter at iraqrefugeelgbt@gmail.com
Another targeted population in Iraq is the Christian community. From Asia News' "Bishop of Baghdad: 'Christians, do not be afraid', but the fear of a new exodus remains:"
The Iraq War continues. Sarah M. Rivette (Watertown Daily Times) reports,
"The 2nd Brigade is headed to eastern Baghdad in October. It is not
known where the 1st Brigade will be stationed yet, but those soldiers
will deploy in January. Both deployments are expected to be for 12
months."
The Kurdistan region's relation to the central government in Baghdad remains tense, in fact, tensions are climbing. AFP reports
that Massud Barzani, president of the KRG, stated yesterday, "We are
committed to the application of Article 140 (of the Iraqi constitution)
and we rpomise that we will absolutely not compromise on this issue or
on the rights of the people of Kurdistan." Article 140 requires an
independent census in Kirkuk and a referendum to take place no later
than . . . December 2007.
This is not a minor detail nor is it something once touched on and then forgotten. Saturday, the KRG's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani gave a speech and it included the following:
In
formulating policy for our government, we have always been committed to
the Iraqi Constitution and protection of the interests of the Kurdistan
Region and all of Iraq.
As you are all aware, recent tensions have occasionally surfaced with the federal, central government over pending issues.
It
is clear that, as long as those issues remain unresolved; this will
threaten the stability that we all aspire to achieve in Iraq.
I
would like to address this matter openly. What we in the Kurdistan
Regional Government want to achieve is to resolve these issues
peacefully and in accordance with the terms and conditions enshrined in
the Iraqi Constitution, for which 80% of Iraqis voted.
We have
always been ready in the past, and we are ready and willing now to sit
at the negotiating table with the federal government and talk with
those who possess the will to solve these issues.
Sometimes we in
the Kurdistan Region are accused of being too firm and insistent in our
demands. But I would like Iraqis and the whole world to be aware of two
things:
First, our insistence on the commitment to the Constitution
and its guarantees for freedom and democracy emerge directly from our
history.
We in the Kurdistan Region have suffered greatly as the
result of agreements which were unfulfilled and promises which were
ignored.
In order for us to live in peace and stability, we want our
rights to be protected. This will take place as a result of permanent
agreements by which all concerned will abide, in accordance with
Constitutional principles. We don’t have any hidden agenda in Iraq.
Second,
for those who say that we cannot negotiate seriously, there are
tangible examples of how the KRG has participated seriously in
negotiations that have led to historic results. Therefore, we can
engage in a similar manner with Baghdad in this regard.
We want to
be a reliable and cooperative partner with the federal government. Our
vision of security, stability and prosperity for the Kurdistan Region
requires a peaceful and cooperative relationship and coordination with
all of Iraq and with Baghdad and we will continue with this policy in
the Kurdistan Region.
All that we ask for is to have a relationship
within the framework of the Constitution, which is the highest law of
the land and the greatest guarantee to us that history will not repeat
itself.
Our message is clear. The Kurdistan Regional Government is
ready and hopeful that serious dialogue will resume with the federal
government to solve the issues according to Constitutional principles
and within a federal, democratic Iraq.
Our insistence on resolving
the issues are with the aim of guaranteeing a bright future for our
people and the prevention of any repetition of our tragic history.
Bonnie reminds that Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barry and TOTUS" went up last night.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqaljazeerathe lesbian and gay foundationsarah m. rivetteasia timesiraqthe world today just nuts
Posted at 06:17 am by thecommonills
Permalink
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barry and Totus"
Posted at 11:40 pm by thecommonills
Permalink
And the war drags on . . .
The Kurds will vote on July 25 for a regional assembly and a president. They were also supposed to approve the new constitution, but a hurried intervention by the US vice president Joe Biden and warnings from Baghdad have persuaded Kurdish leaders to postpone that referendum.
Kurdish anxiety is understandable. From 2003 until recently they were at the height of their power. After their ally, the United States, overthrew Saddam Hussein, the political vacuum and the civil war that ensued gave Kurdistan unprecedented freedom and autonomy, turning it into a security and economic haven in a troubled country. But the Kurds were careful not to push their advantage too far: in a show of faith in Iraq’s future, one of their own, Jalal Talabani, even became the first non-Arab head of the Iraqi state. The Kurds now appear to feel that the goodwill they displayed when they were strong brought few benefits.The above is from The National's " Iraq's divisixions put its security gains at risk" and despite so little interest in the Kurdish region from US outlets, that is where a great deal of the events that will shape Iraq's immediate future are currently occurring. Saturday, the region holds its provincial and presidential elections and does so without the New York Times doing the the three week advance build up that they gave for the other provincial elections January 31st (the KRG didn't take place in those provincial elections, nor did Kirkuk -- despite the way the press presented them, all of Iraq did not vote January 31st). And it's not just the New York Times, Panhandle Media (i.e. KPFA, Democracy Now!, etc.) were happy to pimp those elections in January and to pimp it as if meant their heart throb, the modern day Christ-child was really going to end the Iraq War. It was about spin, it wasn't about reality. These days they can't be bothered with Iraq for more than a few seconds. So you largely get silence in the US. Mehid Lebouachera (Kuwait Times) offers an analysis which opens with: Kurdish demands to expand their autonomous region in northern Iraq to include the Kirkuk oil fields and other districts threaten to trigger armed conflict, diplomats and analysts warn. Six years after the US-led invasion in which Kurdish rebel groups were key allies, their decades-old claims to historically Kurdish-inhabited areas remain unresolved by the new Iraqi government in which they hold both the presidency and a deputy premiership.And opposition to the Kurdish demands remains as strong as ever, not only among the Sunni Arab minority that dominated Saddam Hussein's ousted regime but also among the Shiite majority community that leads the new government and among ethnic minorities such as the Turkmen. As time drags on, Kurdish leaders have voiced mounting frustration at the impasse in their talks with Baghdad, sparking an increasingly heated war of words with Arab politicians.
Nouri al-Maliki was installed by the US over three years ago. That's important. The 2005 Constitution, which went into effect in the final third of 2005 -- mere months before Nouri was installed -- promised an independent census of Kirkuk and a 2007 referendum. Nouri came to power and didn't get on that issue. Following the 2006 mid-term elections in the US, when both houses of Congress were handed over to Democrats (November, 2006), the White House, under pressure on the never-ending illegal war, began talking benchmarks for 'success.' The White House defined those benchmarks and Nouri signed off on them. The benchmarks included resolving the issue of Kirkuk. 2007. Two years later and still nothing. Not only throughout the illegal war but also before it began, it was always known that Kirkuk was a divisive issue. (Hence the September 1998 White House meeting with Jalal Talabani, Kurd and current president of Iraq, and Masoud Barzani, Kurd and current president of the KRG; as well as the passage of in October 2002 of legislation by the Kurdish parliament preparing for the Iraq War.) Saddam Hussein ran Kurds out of the area and installed Arabs. The Kurds see Kirkuk as their land. The land is oil-rich and the Arabs aren't eager to hand it over to Kurdish control. So despite the fact that Nouri came into office mere months after the Constitution went into effect (calling for resolution of the Kirkuk issue) and despite the fact that, in 2007, he signed off on benchmarks which included resolving the Kirkuk issue, he's done nothing. There has been no referendum, there hasn't even been a census. Last summer lands the Kurds consider their own were nearly invaded by Iraqi forces in what some saw as an attempted take over and others saw as a 'crackdown' or assault similar to what Nouri staged on Basra in March of last year. It was a very tense situation and war could have erupted right then. Unlike the Shi'ite - Sunni conflict which was more ethnic cleansing due to the fact that the Sunnis are not in power and do not have the numbers that the Shi'ites, the KRG has its own army, has its own forces and the tensions do not cease, if these issues aren't resolved, it's not unlikely that real civil war will break out in Iraq. A real one. Not ethnic cleansing being 'prettied up' with the phrase 'civil war.' Not a bunch of powerless minorities being killed and run out of the country, but a full on war. Such a war might give Shi'ites and Sunnis something to bond over and maybe that's why the issue's not really dealt with? But equally true is that the pershmerga is a real force, not a rag-tag one, not an inexperienced one. Nouri's force is infamous for desertion in the midst of battle. That happened during the assault on Basra. The assault on Basra required US forces backing Nouri up. Would they back up Nouri in a war on the KRG? That's doubtful. In fact, were that to happen, you could see some of the largest global protests since the start of the illegal war because, while the Kurds haven't stressed this, they are among the world's most displaced people and they have historical events on their side. They do not have to 'play' a wronged people, historically and globally the Kurds are a wronged people. Even within Turkey, which has long had conflict with its Kurdish population (to put it mildly), you might see leaders encourage such sentiment with the hopes that, due to Turkey bordering Iraq, many of the Kurdish fighters in Turkey would depart from Turkey and move into Iraq to take up arms. A conflict between the centeral government and the KRG will not find global support for the US puppet. That's reality and it's about damn time the White House grasped that. For those who find it all so confusing, a 2008 State Dept [PDF format warning] report noted that there were an estimated 20 to 25 million Kurds world wide and that, "To varying degrees, Kurds have been persecuted in their countries." That's putting it mildly. That is not to say X needs to be given or Y needs to be handed over. That is saying it's past time that the benchmarks and the Iraqi Constitution were followed. It's past time the issues were resolved. And if the US can't use its influence to see that an independent census is taken, that's one more reason (among the millions) for US forces to immediately come home. US forces do not need to be on the ground in Iraq if a civil war breaks out. As Joe Biden observered in April of 2007, being on the ground then would put them in the position of defending a government (Nouri's) that's neither legitimate nor popular and force them to take sides in a civil war. Jamal al-Badrani (Reuters) reports that, as nothing is done regarding disputed territories, Kurds in Nineveh Province have issued statements threatening to secede. They're just there to try and make the people free,But the way that they're doing it, it don't seem like that to me.Just more blood-letting and misery and tearsThat this poor country's known for the last twenty years,And the war drags on.-- words and lyrics by Mick Softly (available on Donovan's Fairytale) Last Sunday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4322 and tonight? 4327. Today the US military announced: "AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq – A Multi National Force – West Marine was killed in a combat-related incident as a result of enemy action here July 19. The Marine’s name is being withheld pending next-of-kin notification and release through the U.S. Department of Defense official website at http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/." In other reported violence . . . Bombings? Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing (Abu Ghraib) claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left three more injured, a Baghdad sticky bomb claimed the life of Sahwa leader Mahmoud Abdullah and left a bystander injured and a Baghdad bombing left nine people injured. KUNA reports a grendade attack on police in Mosul which claimed the life of 1 and left two more injured. Shootings? KUNA reports 2 police officers were shot dead today in Mosul. Reuters drops back to Saturday to note 1 handicapped male was shot dead in Mosul and 1 supsect was shot dead in Mosul by US and Iraqi forces. Corpses? KUNA reports a "beheaded" corpse (male) was discovered in Mosul. A little after 2:30 this afternoon (EST), the US State Dept's spokesperson Robert Wood released the following statement on the helicopter crash in Iraq Friday: The Department of State is deeply saddened by the deaths of two employees of Xe Consulting during a helicopter crash in Iraq on July 17 and extends our heartfelt sympathies to their families. Our thoughts are also with the two men who were injured in this incident and their families. These men played an important role in assisting the Department in protecting American diplomats and missions in Iraq.
The Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security is coordinating with appropriate U.S. and Iraqi officials regarding an investigation into the cause of the crash.
Gabriel Gatehouse (BBC News) reports that tensions are increasing between the Iraqi military and the US military over what the role of the US is in Iraq. File it under: One more reason all US troops need to be out of Iraq NOW. Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reports Nouri, who has been making disparging remarks about US service members lately, intends to visit Arlington Cementary while visiting the White House. Reportedly he plans to pay his 'respects' -- non-existant ones to judge by his recent remarks. She quotes Nouri al-Maliki's boy-toy Sami Askari declaring, ""The Democrats were in opposition to George Bush so they tended not to see his positive points, only to concentrate on the negative ones. So I think the prime minister needs to say this: That as a people, we are not ignoring what others did for us. Every Iraqi who goes to Washington needs to make clear that the war was not a failure." Save the fantasy talk for Nouri, Askari. Nouri made quite clear to Barack last summer what he thought of Bully Boy Bush. The idea that after running Bush down (no problem with that here), Nouri's now going to counsel Barack on the 'good' in George W.'s efforts is laughable. What's not being reported are rumors that Biden has scheduled a high-level meeting with Nouri and former Ba'athists for this visit. Those are rumors. When Biden visited Iraq, Nouri remainded non-committal to the idea and indicated he would weigh a meet up with Ba'athists and Arab neighbors. Shortly after Biden departed Iraq, Nouri began issuing fiery statements indicating otherwise. While Nouri gears up for his visit, Iraq's Foreign Minister has already made it to DC. Alsumaria quotes Hoshyar Zebari stating: We are here to have talks with the Secretary of State on Iraq-U.S. relations that have been embedded in blood and sacrifice. After the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) agreement on the withdrawal of troops, the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraqi cities that was the first clear message and indicator that the United States is sincere in implementing its part of the bargain that we have reached. In fact, Iraq is moving forward with its recovery, both internally and regionally. We have expanded our relations with Arab countries, with our neighbors, with the rest of the world. And we are working now hard to get our country exiting chapter 7 regulations, something we need United States support and that of the permanent Security Council's, and I have a number of issues to discuss with the Secretary on where, how, how Iraq is progressing. That visit took place Wednesday, July 15th, and Clinton's remarks delivered to the press were: Well, today, I am welcoming Minister Zebari, foreign minister of Iraq, someone whom I have gotten to know, who I had a very excellent exchange of ideas with when I was in Iraq, and I'm looking forward to continuing that today. We are working closely together to support a stable, sovereign, and self-reliant Iraq. And we see so much progress occurring. We also want to work with Iraq to expand its relationships in the region, to ensure that its neighbors are once again working with and supporting Iraq's journey that is so important for the Iraqi people to the destination of a better future.
And I know that the foreign minister -- Prime Minister Maliki who was recently in Turkey, Minister Zebari, who just came from New York, are looking for the kind of support that comes not just from diplomats, but from business and investment people who see a real future as well in Iraq.
So we have a full plate. We're going to be discussing a broad range of issues and preparing for Prime Minister Maliki's visit in a week.
New content at Third: Truest statement of the weekTruest statement of the week IIA note to our readersEditorial: The lost land of IraqTV: Meet The FockersIssues effecting women veteransRoundtableMusic roundtableMeet the new RamenTheme of last weekHighlightsIsaiah's latest goes up after this. Pru notes this from Great Britain's Socialist Worker: This article should be read after: » ‘Bring the troops home now’British soldier interviewed: ‘I realised the Afghan war was wrong’
Lance Corporal Joe Glenton is 27 years old and has been in the army since 2004. For the last two years, after he was told that he would have to return to Afghanistan, Joe has been absent without leave and on the run. He spoke to Yuri Prasad about his experiences
‘In 2006 my regiment was posted to Afghanistan for seven months. And if I had to describe my feelings about the tour in one word, I would say “confused”.
We were never really told what was going on, and the whole campaign seemed to be suffering from “mission creep” – the goals just seemed to be changing all the time.
Around the time that we arrived in Afghanistan the fighting with the Taliban revived and it got pretty rough. I was based at Kandahar airport and although we weren’t on the front line, the base was attacked frequently.
My regiment was there to support Three Para with all their logistical needs. We were told that the British army was there to keep the peace. But we actually ran out of artillery shells because they were calling it forwards to the front lines in such large quantities.
There was so much shelling there were periods when we would work solidly for 20 or 30 hours at a time.
There was an undercurrent of fear as well. I was fighting alongside people that ranged from just 18 years old to guys in the their mid-40s. We were hit by mortars and rockets.
Luckily, I never had to see one of my colleagues injured but the constant shelling does have an effect on people. A lot of guys, especially the younger ones, really struggled to cope.
Politicians
Afghan people were attacking us, even though our politicians said we were going in to help them. It came as a real shock. We kept asking ourselves, why are they doing this? That’s when I became aware that there was something seriously wrong with the war.
Initially we were told that we were in Afghanistan to put an end to the opium crop. Then we were told that it was to rebuild infrastructure. Then it was about bringing democracy – but none of this really seems to have happened.
Maybe there was an initial plan, but it kind of snowballed. By the end of my tour it was attrition and war fighting.
That had a massive impact on the Afghan civilian population who were put in a lot of danger. There’s no way you can fight a war without ordinary people getting caught up in it.
When I got back from my tour of Afghanistan I was quite shaken by the whole experience. But there’s a definite feeling running through the army that they just expect you to get on with it no matter what’s happened to you.
While I was still struggling to come to terms with my experiences in Afghanistan and adjusting to returning home, I was promoted and posted to another regiment. And from that point on things started to go very wrong.
I was singled out by a senior officer who started bullying me – and there is very little support for someone in the army who finds themselves in that position. I tried to go through the army’s formal procedure but it didn’t resolve the problem.
I realised at this point that I could no longer trust my chain of command. I felt like a victim of the “old boys’ club”.
Around the same time I was told that my regiment wanted to deploy me to Afghanistan again – even though this is against the harmony guidelines which stipulate a minimum time between tours of duty.
I’d only been back in Britain for about six or seven months.
At that point I decided that to protect myself my only course of action was to go absent. I was having some kind of a breakdown and I got away as far as I could to Asia, where I knew I could live cheaply for a couple of months.
My initial plan was to stay there for a while then come back to Britain and prepare to be courts martialed and kicked out of the army – but I just couldn’t deal with it.
So I pushed on to Australia, stayed there for two years on a working visa and met my now wife. Together we decided that I should come back and deal with things.
Fast track
I’ve handed myself into the army, and I’m now on a fast track courts martial. As far as the army is concerned I’m guilty and it doesn’t matter what I’ve been through.
They’ve just upped the charge against me from absent without leave to desertion. In the worst case scenario I face two years in a civilian jail.
Meanwhile, the politicians who send us to Afghanistan don’t even seem prepared to spend the money that’s needed to keep us safe.
Looking at the way the war has developed, I don’t think Britain is doing any good there and I think our troops should come out.
All we’re doing now is stacking up casualties. The Afghan people will probably go with whoever is winning, and right now we’re not.’
The following should be read alongside this article: » ‘Bring the troops home now’» Quagmire deepens for Britain in Afghanistan» Afghan war brings political falloutIf you would like to send a message to Joe, email letters@socialistworker.co.uk and we will forward it to him
© Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original.
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» comment on article » email article » printable versionThe e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqand the war drags ondonovanthe nationalmehdilebouacherathe kuwait timesgabriel gathehousebbc newsthe los angeles timesliz slyiraqmcclatchy newspaperslaith hammoudithe socialist workerthe third estate sunday reviewthe world today just nuts
Posted at 11:33 pm by thecommonills
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Saturday, July 18, 2009
 The press hopes you do. They hope you love a good yarn so much that you're not going to ask any questions, utilize common sense or, heaven forbid, think for yourselves. Which explains the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk. Iraqi forces, all by themselves, secured Iraq and Iraqis today. Mike Tharp (McClatchy Newspapers) is blabbering away faster than Rona Barrett declaring a psychic is running ABC. It's "their first big test," Tharp gueshes, and they "passed" -- not only did they pass, they did so "with flying colors"! and he's not done yet. Please. He quotes Maj Gen Qaasim Atta -- don't you love it when even the publicity hacks are given military titles? -- declaring, "This is the first 100 percent Iraqi security plan to protect the pilgrims. THe forces are all Iraqis, even the helicopters above." Oh, Tharp, if you want to play idiot, do so, but don't insult the rest of us. At his own outlet, Mohammed al Dulaimy already reported that US helicopters -- two of them -- were hovering over Baghdad. Well, ignore the two in Baghdad -- and pretend other US helicopters haven't been flying all over Iraq -- and you can swallow the spin, you can splash in the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk. Why, it's practically purple fingers! It's 2005 all over again! Reality is that Baghdad's rarely the point of attack. Reality is that the US forces, stepping away from Iraq cities, have been doing more work along the route of the pilgrims. Baghdad's the destination. But the pilgrims don't fly in to Baghad International, step onto the tarmac and rush to the shrine. That's not how it works. But if you're stupid enough, if you're as stupid as the press hopes you are, you will be grinning and swearing, "Mission accomplished!" Yes, with a little help from the press, you too can be as stupid as George W. Bush. And they hope you're as intellectually non-curious as George. That would allow you stop long before paragraph thirteen of Tharp's eighteen paragraph article where he sneaks in "two US choppers also provided surveillance on Thursday." Blink and you know you missed it, lose your love when you say the word "mine." The crackdown isn't explored. The crackdown includes curfews and a ban on traffic and that's mentioned (at the end, of course) and we get someone presented as something of a smart ass complaining but apparently actually interviewing pilgrims wasn't on the agenda. Apparently, taking dictation from the Iraqi spokesmodels was so much more important. We're focusing on Tharp but Timothy Williams has a piece of garbage that'll run in tomorrow's New York Times and you can pick off any liar at basically any outlet. In fairness to the press, it should be noted that this spin passed as reports should be part of a process wherein the coming days would explore what really happened. That still wouldn't justify relying solely on government spokesmodels, nor would it justify presenting unchecked spin as fact. But it doesn't matter because this won't be reported on. This won't be followed up on. And the point was always to get that splash of Operation Happy Talk headlines into the news cycle and never explore it. They never went back and addressed the problems in the January 31st elections, let alone in the 2005. It's all hype and hot air. And they can't even get their hype right. Tharp insists no pilgrims died from Thursday to today. Really? That would be a first in Iraq or anywhere. If people injured by bombings, if every single one of them. Tharps insists 48 people were wounded since Thursday) was injured in a bombing and not one later died on the way to the hospital or in the hospital. If that happened to three days worth of bombing victims, it would certainly be a first. AP reports, "The event was a relative success, despite bombings that killed several people and injured dozens." It's really something to watch as over 130,000 US forces are stripped of any credit because the press wants to paint Iraq as 'ready.' The press seems a little bit like a female singer who's sleeping with her guitarist and, therefore, eager to inflate his credit and build him up. So she goes around insisting he's really, really talented and really the brains behind every recording and no one would listen if he wasn't there. Reality, he's just the guitarist. In the real world, the assualt on the Sahwa ("Awakenings," "Sons Of Iraq") continues. BBC reports that Naeem Saleh al-Halbusi was injured in a bombing near Falluja attack targeting the Sahwa leader and wounding him and killing his son and two bodyguards. AP covers that bombing and notes one outside Falluja which claimed the lives of 2 children and left eight more injured. Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) notes a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured two police officers and a Mosul roadside bombing which injured two Iraqi soldiers. Reuters notes a Ramadi roadside bombing which injured one Iraqi soldier and a Mosul roadside bombing which injured one Iraqi police officer. Dropping back to yesterday, the US military reports 1 "Iraq local national was killed and another was injured during an accident involving a US military vehicle" in Basra. The US military announced today: DIYALA, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces delivered rice, flour, sugar and oil to citizens in Baqubah with the help of U.S. Forces. Video scenes include workers unloading five trucks of goods, and citizens lining up and receiving the products.DVIDSHUB.net has a one-minute package about the event as well as edited B-Roll and Interviews.
Direct link to the package: http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=64265Direct link to interviews: http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=64267Direct link to B-Roll: http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=video/video_show.php&id=64266For access to the video, contact the Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System by calling 1-877-DVIDS-247 or visit the Web site at www.DVIDSHUB.netYeah, that's right. Iraqi security forces couldn't even go into Baquba on their own. They came bearing gifts but still needed to be accompanied by US forces. But keep believeing the latest waves of Operation Happy Talk, the beautiful lie where Iraqi forces, all by themselves, ensured no pilgrim died. The thing about waves of Operation Happy Talk? They always crash into reality. Alsumaria reports of today's pilgrimage: "One citizen was killed and tens pilgrims were wounded as they were heading to Imam Moussa Al Kazem shrine (AS) due to roadside bomb explosions in Zaafaraniya, New Baghdad, Al Saydiya and Al Dora region." So even the fact-free hype falls apart upon examination. And Mike Tharp, Timothy Williams and assorted others? As Gladys once sang, "Now your head's little lower and you walk a little slower and you don't seem so proud." ( Ashford & Simpson's "Didn't You Know You'd Have To Cry Sometime?") Photo credit is: "Staff Sgt. Alan Cable, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, (left), and 1st Lt. Adnan Ganim, 55th Iraqi Army Brigade, shake hands before returning to work at Joint Security Station Zubaida, south of Baghdad, July 15. Photo by Sgt. Mary Phillips, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team." In exactly seven days, the KRG holds elections. You don't hear a lot about that, do you? Compare it to the January 31st provincial elections which the KRG sat out (this is their provincial and presidential elections comined). Nada Bakri (Washington Post) reports from Sulaymaniyah on one candidate, Hallo Rasch: Rasch is running as an independent against the incumbent, Massoud Barzani, who was elected president of Iraqi Kurdistan in 2005. The pragmatic and cautious Barzani has been at the center of Kurdish politics -- in the region, in the rest of Iraq and in the broader Kurdish homeland -- since succeeding his father, a legendary guerrilla leader, as head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party more than 30 years ago.
Rasch's uphill candidacy is playing out in a region simultaneously considered the most democratic in Iraq and not all that democratic. Two main parties -- Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, headed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani -- have for years exercised a stranglehold on the region, dividing between them politics, patronage, investments and business deals. As noted last night, a helicopter crashed in Iraq. CNN reports it was an "Xe" (Blackwater) helicopter and that two employees died and another two were wounded. In other news, NPR's gone to the dogs. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqmcclatchy newspapersmohammed al dulaimythe washington postnada bakricnn
Posted at 08:01 pm by thecommonills
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First up, community business. Ann's started her own site, Ann's Mega Dub. She came up with the title to nod to her husband's site (and he helped some on the title). I did add it to the links last night but I'd already finished filling in for Elaine when Ann called and said she was going to start it. Ann filled in for Ruth for the month of June and just finished filling in for Mike last night. Yesterday the US military announced 3 deaths. Today the Dept of Defense released the following: The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died July16 in Basra of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit using indirect fire.
Killed were:
Spc. Daniel P. Drevnick, 22, of Woodbury, Minn.;
Spc. James D. Wertish, 20, of Olivia, Minn.; and
Spc. Carlos E. Wilcox IV, 27, of Cottage Grove, Minn.
All three soldiers were assigned to the 34th Military Police Company, 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota Army National Guard, Stillwater, Minn.
For more information on these soldiers, media may contact the Minnesota Army National Guard Public Affairs Office at 651-282-4410.Hank Long (Woodbury Bulletin) quotes Minnesota National Guard Adjudant General Larry Shellito declaring, "We mourn the loss of these three soldiers; they were truly part of our National Guard family. We will never forget the dedication, loyalty and bravery shown by these soldiers for the United States of America and the state of Minnesota. I ask that you keep these soldiers, their families and loved ones in your thoughts and prayers now and forever." City Basra police chief Maj Gen Adil Daham, AP states that a supect has been arrested in the attack. Meanwhile Mike Tharp explores the dwindling farming in Iraq in " Once World's bread basket, Iraq now a farming basket case" ( McClatchy Newspapers) and we'll note this section: Just ask Naji Habeeb, 85. His family has been growing rice in this village 135 miles southeast of Baghdad for generations. Thin green shoots stick out of the flat paddies, shin-deep in brown water.
The Iraqi government, he claims, still owes him half of what he's due from last year's crop. He turned it in months ago and still hasn't been paid. "Shall I suck my fingers and eat like a baby?" he shouted. "The Ministry (of Agriculture) will never know my family is hungry!"
Habeeb's family members have farmed the 538-square-foot plot next to a branch of the Euphrates River the same way for centuries. Except today they till with tractors, run water pumps with gasoline and spread artificial fertilizer. They plant seedlings by hand in June and July, irrigate and keep bugs and disease away in the summer heat, harvest by hand in October.Some may not remember this, maybe they didn't screeching e-mails from the spokespeople a paper quoted, but the US military, years ago, was pimping the "We are teaching Iraqis how to farm! They will have date farms! They will have . . ." They have nothing and the point back then made here was that your problems were irrigation and pollution, that the irrigation and the rivers needed to be addressed. We didn't touch on the issue of damns, my mistake. But the military talking point was that Iraq would be a breadbasket again and it would be thanks to the US military and blah, blah, blah. To the one who wrote repeatedly (because apparently that's what you do when you serve in the spin wing of the military), I'm still not eating my words. How 'bout you? What's going on currently was all completely predictable and we noted what was happening and what would happen. This isn't the worst of it, this isn't the bottom. And it's amazing that approximately three years ago the US military lied big time and the New York Times was happy to run with it. They didn't do journalism, journalism would have been questioning those laughable assertions. And all this time later, they still avoid returning to that article, they still avoid going after that spin that they swallowed and repeated -- repeated and presented as fact when it never was. We'll note this from Sherwood Ross' " BUSH, CHENEY, TOLD LAWYERS TO GIVE THEM CRIMINAL ADVICE" ( Veterans Today): Torture instigators George Bush and Dick Cheney should not be allowed to evade prosecution on grounds they acted in good faith on their lawyers’ advice because they told their lawyers what advice to give. "Could Al Capone or ‘Lucky’ Luciana receive immunity for acting in accordance with the advice of counsel when they told counsel what to advise?" asks Lawrence Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover. "(Vice-President) Cheney and (President) Bush knew that they were ordering violations of law," Velvel points out. "The fact that they were doing so, and were well aware they were doing so, was one of the reasons why they, like a significant number of CIA officials who knew the same, demanded that lawyers produce legal cover for them in the form of Office of Legal Counsel memos authored by the likes of (John) Yoo and (Steven) Bradbury."Lower level CIA and military personnel that did not read the supposedly exculpatory memos, Velvel said, also cannot claim reliance on legal counsel because "they had to know that torture was forbidden no matter what some lawyers said. You could not grow up in America and not know this" any more than a person could claim murder was lawful because some lawyer told him so, Velvel writes."People who grew up in America cannot realistically claim that they thought it was lawful to beat people mercilessly, to smash their heads against walls, to kill about one hundred of them apparently, to hang them from ceiling hooks, to make them freeze, to deny them sleep for weeks on end, and so forth," Velvel writes in an essay in his new book "America 2008" from Doukathsan Press. The following community sites have updated since yesterday morning: Cedric's Big MixMICHELLE HAS PLANS FOR HEALTH CARE1 hour ago The Daily JotTHIS JUST IN! MICHELLE TO RESCUE HEALTH CARE!1 hour ago Mikey Likes It!Mike's back Monday20 hours ago Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)Ann starts a site, Cronkite passes away, and . . .21 hours ago Ann's Mega DubIraq21 hours ago Thomas Friedman is a Great ManAnalyzing the circus22 hours ago Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitudegordo's got more problems22 hours ago SICKOFITRADLZLie Face Melissa Harris Lacewell22 hours ago Trina's KitchenFries in the Kitchen22 hours ago Ruth's ReportWhat do you mean 'us,' Missy Comley Beattie?22 hours ago Oh Boy It Never EndsMelissa Harris Lacewell is an idiot22 hours ago Like Maria Said Paz'Poor' Sharon Smith22 hours ago The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. iraqmcclatchy newspapersmike tharphank longsherwood rossanns mega dublike maria said pazkats kornersex and politics and screeds and attitudethomas friedman is a great mantrinas kitchenthe daily jotcedrics big mixmikey likes itruths reportsickofitradlzoh boy it never ends
Posted at 07:59 pm by thecommonills
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