BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
IN 2008, LITTLE BITCH BOY BARRY O COULDN'T STOP TALKING HIS SMACK ABOUT BILL CLINTON AND HE AND HIS SURROGATES REPEATEDLY AND FALSELY ATTACKED BILL.
FOUR YEARS LATER AND BARRY O'S ON THE ROPES (AGAIN) AND NEEDS BILL CLINTON (AGAIN).
AND BECAUSE BILL'S A MAN, AND NOT A BITCH BOY, HE'LL PUT IT BEHIND HIM AND TRY TO RESCUE THE LITTLE PRECIOUS.
BILL CLINTON'S REACHED A NEW LEVEL OF POPULARITY AT THE SAME TIME THAT BARRY O HAS DISAPPOINTED AMERICANS IN RECORD NUMBERS.
NOW IT'S GOING TO BE UP TO BILL TO TRY TO SEAL THE DEAL -- TO DO WHAT BARRY O COULDN'T BECAUSE BARRY O IS A FAILURE AND IN DANGER OF SEEING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WALK OUT ON HIM THE WAY HIS BIGAMIST DADDY RAN OUT ON MOMMY.
REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O SAID, "WAH! WAH!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Emily Alpert (Los Angeles Times) reports,
"The United States wasted more than $200 million on an Iraqi
police-training program that has little backing on the ground, a new
U.S. government audit released Monday found." The Office of the Special
Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction issued [PDF format warning] "Iraq
Police Development Program: Lack Of Iraqi Support And Security Problems
Raise Questions About The Continued Viability Of The Program." From the report:
The
DoS is wisely reducing the PDP's scope and size in the face of weak
Iraq Ministry of Interior (MOI) support. In July 2012, the number of
in-country advisors was reduced to 36: 18 in Baghdad and 18 in Erbil,
down from the 85 advisors supporting the program in January. These
latest reductions steemed, in part, from the MOI's rejection of some
planned PDP training that was to be the centerpiece of the DoS program.
DoS is currently refocusing its training on five technical areas
requested by the MOI.
Along with Iraqi
disinterest, security concerns also affected the program. The Embassy's
Regional Security Office deemed it unsafe for advisors to travel to
Iraqi-controlled facilities in Baghdad on a frequent basis. Thus, the
PDP's advisors conducted more training at the U.S.-controlled Baghdad
Police College Annex (BPAX). DoS constructed significant training and
housing facilities at BPAX at an estimated cost of about $108 million.
But the DoS has decided to close the facility just months after the PDP
started, due to security costs and program revisions. Although BPAX's
facilities will be given to the Iraqis, its closure amounts to a de
facto waste of the estimated $108 million to be invested in its
construction. In addition, DoS contributed $98 million in PDP funds for
constructing the Basrah Consulate so it could be used for PDP training.
It too will not be used because the MOI decided to terminate training
at that location. This brings the total amount of de facto waste in
the PDP -- that is, funds not meaningfully used for the purpose of their
appropriations -- to about $206 million.
I wasn't in the mood for the report yesterday. My attitude was we covered waste in this program last week (see, for example, "Did the US government have 1.5 billion to throw away"
) and the thing everyone was running with was the Baghdad Police
College Annex. That was the headline in piece for piece after piece.
Why is the Police College Annex being given to the Iraqi government?
It's not difficult to explain and it has been explained.
But not in reports yesterday and not in Stuart Bowen's SIGIR report everyone treated as gospel.
This
was addressed in Congressional hearings. And the press needs to pay
attention to what's going on because the reason the Police College Annex
is being handed over? That can effect other US complexes in Iraq.
The June 29th snapshot covered
the most recent hearing on this topic (the June 28th House Oversight
and Government Reform's Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland
Defense and Foreign Operations hearing). Jason Chaffetz is the
Subcommittee Chair but he'd stepped out of the hearing and US House Rep
Black Farenthold was Acting Chair. As he established in his line of
questions (to the State Dept's Patrick Kennedy and Peter Verga and the
State Dept's Acting IG Harold Geisel, DoD's Special Deputy IG for
Southwest Asia Mickey McDermott, US GAO's Michael Courts and SIGIR's
Stuart Bowen Jr.), the US government did not secure a lease for the
land. As Farenthold noted of the Baghdad Police College Annex, "It was
intended to house the police department program -- a multi-billion
dollar effort that's currently being downsized. And as a result of
the State Dept's failure to secure land use rights, the entire facility
is being turned over to the Iraqis at no cost. The GAO reports Mission
Iraq has land use agreements or leases for only 5 out of all of the
sites that it operates." That number has increased by one since that
hearing. From the July 9th snapshot:
The Kurdistan Regional Government really wasn't the concern there. But Sunday the KRG announced
that Foreign Relations Minister Falah Mustafa met with outgoing US
Consul General Alexander Laskaris: "As his last official act in the
Region, prior to the meeting Consul General Laskaris signed an agreement
regarding the allocation of land for the permanent premises of the US
Consulate to be built on. Commenting on this agreement, Mr Laskaris
said, 'We thank the government of Kurdistan for allocating this land as
part of enhancing our permanent diplomatic presence in Iraq including
Baghdad, Basra and Erbil. We look forward to breaking ground and thank
the leadership of the KRG for their continuing support and
partnership'."
AP
and others yesterday wrongly conflated two separate aspects of the
waste. If they'd bothered to attend Congressional hearings, maybe they
wouldn't have. But the police college was not turned over because
people didn't want to participate. That's not the issue on the
turnover. The issue on the turnover is the lack of land-lease
agreements. These should have been in place. They weren't.
Michael
Courts testified in the June 28th hearing referenced above that
"there's still only 5 of 14 [US facilities in Iraq] for which we
actually have explicit title land use agreements or leases."
If
you are alarmed by the waste trumpeted yesterday, then you need to pay
attention to this topic. There are now 6 out of 14 facilities with
agreements. (Courts used "explicit agreements" to draw a line between
actual agreements and the diplomatic notes Patrick Kennedy was trying to
falsely pass off as agreements.)
Point
being, this could happen again and again. This story was completely
missed because the press is not doing the work required.
Article
after article yesterday acted alarmed about the handover of the
building and the numbers they used in the headlines relied largely on
that building. But no one wants to tell you that this could happen with
8 other US buildings in Iraq if the administration doesn't get land
agreements? No one wants to be the one to step up to the plate and
discuss how the administration failed?
In
fairness to the reporters, they're covering a SIGIR report (though
should they be adding context and a bit more in their so-called reports)
and that report makes the same conflation between two separate things.
Josh Rogin (Foreign Policy) speaks
to Bowen and even that doesn't allow Rogin to get it right. For all not
at the June 28th hearing, that's when the American people learned (or
would have if the press attended and reported) that the Baghdad Police
College Annex was being handed over to the Iraqi government and that
this was happening because of the lack of lease agreement.
It
is not because of security concerns -- as Rogin and Bowen discuss. That
was discussed in the hearing as well. That had nothing to do with it.
Issues are being confused and it's hard to believe it's not intentional.
It is not because of the lack of participation by the Iraqi police.
It
is being handed over because no land agreement was finalized and
apparently the White House doesn't think one can be on that area of
land. This is important and to have an honest discussion, people need to
know the issues at play.
Let's deal with
another issue because it goes to failure as well and it didn't happen
this week or last month, it happened months ago but Rogin -- who I'll
assume was trying to be honest on this -- quotes from the SIGIR report,
"Without the MOI [Ministry of Interior]'s written commitment to the
program, there is little reason to have confidence that the training
program currently being planned will be accepted six months from now."
I'm appalled by that statement.
I
don't disagree with it but it's more than a little late for that
statement. This dishonesty's coming from Bowen who I'll assume is under a
lot of pressure and is trying to pretty things up. But why is it
appalling to read a juts-released SIGIR report stating there's no buy-in
by the Ministry of Defense on a police training program?
Ranking
Member Gary Ackerman: He [Bowen] has testified before other bodies of
Congress, he has released written quarterly reports, as well as specific
audits and the message is the same: The program for which the
Department of State officially took responsibility on October 1st is
nearly a text book case of government procurement -- in this case,
foreign assistance -- doesn't buy what we think we're paying for, what
we want and why more money will only make the problem worse. Failed
procurement is not a problem unique to the State Department. And when it
comes to frittering away millions, Foggy Bottom is a rank amateur
compared to the Department of Defense. As our colleagues on the Armed
Services committees have learned, the best of projects with the most
desirable of purposes can go horribly, horribly off-track; and the
hardest thing it seems that any bureaucracy can do is pull the plug on a
failed initiative. How do we know the Police Development Program is
going off-track? Very simple things demonstrate a strong likelihood of
waste and mismanagement. Number one, does the government of Iraq --
whose personnel we intend to train -- support the program? Interviews
with senior Iraqi officials by the Special Inspector General show utter
disdain for the program. When the Iraqis suggest that we take our money
and do things instead that are good for the United States, I think that
might be a clue.
That's
US House Rep Gary Ackerman rightly noting there is no buy-in on the
police training program and that's not last week, that's not last month.
That's last year. That's from the December 1, 2011 snapshot and the
hearing was November 30, 2011. And Stuart Bowen knows these remarks
because he was testifying to the hearing.
Hundreds
of millions have been wasted according to the latest report (billions
have been wasted) and the American tax payer is paying for this
'oversight'? This lack of buy-in was established in Congress last year.
From that House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and
South Asia hearing:
Ranking Member
Gary Ackerman: Number one, does the government of Iraq -- whose
personnel we intend to train -- support the program? Interviews with
senior Iraqi officials by the Special Inspector General show utter
disdain for the program. When the Iraqis suggest that we take our money
and do things instead that are good for the United States, I think that
might be a clue.
The report didn't
uncover anything. It was already known at the end of last year. This
is why Congress was so upset with the stone walling from the
administration. They felt the Iraq goals were not clearly defined, that
the -- wait. We don't need me. Again, Ackerman, from that hearing,
explained the problem was "the program's objectives remain a mushy bowl
of vague platitudes" with "no comprehensive and detailed plan for
execution." He referred to the "flashing-red warning light."
This
is a failure of the administration and the press can't tell you that
because they don't know the story they think they're covering. In part,
that's because Bowen's written an embarrassing report that doesn't
clearly document. In part, that's because they didn't do their jobs.
Adnan
al-Asadi had been questioned by Bowen last year and Bowen was told by
Adnan al-Asadi that they didn't need the US to train Iraqi police. Who
is? Adnan al-Asadi? The Acting Minister of Interior. He's not Minister
of Interior. Nouri never nominated anyone for that position so
Parliament never confirmed anyone. Which means Adnan al-Asadi does what
Nouri tells him to do and serves at Nouri's pleasure. Nouri must have
been pleased with al-Asadi's actions.
Though Nouri was supposed to nominate heads for the security ministries in 2010, he never did. As Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed last
week, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a
lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet
positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national
security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."
And while those positions have remained vacant, the violence in Iraq
has increased.
Today Baghdad was slammed with bombings. Bushra Juhi (AP) reports two Baghdad car bombings have left 21 dead and fifty-seven injured. RTT News explains,
"The first of the bomb explosions occurred outside a restaurant near
the headquarters of the police major crime division in Baghdad's central
Shiite district of Karrada. Minutes later, a second car bomb exploded
outside a passport office located just a few kilometers away." Aseel Kami and Kareem Raheem (Reuters) quote
police officer Ahmed Hassan, "We were in a patrol when we heard the
first explosion. The second explosion hit another square, and we went
to help . . . There was a minibus with six dead passengers inside it."
The two bombings weren't the only violence today.
On the day Reporters Without Borders notes
6 countries have seen more than one reporter killed in 2012 so far
while 7 -- including Iraq -- have seen at least one killed, Iraq moves
up into the first category. Iraq just moved up to the other category,
the more than one. Bushra Juhi (AP) reports
police announced today that last night in Mosul, Ghazwan Anas was shot
dead in an attack which left his wife and mother injured. Al Rafidayn reports that unknown assailants stormed Anas' home and shot him dead while leaving his wife injured. Xinhua adds
that it was his wife and their 4-month-old child that were injured in
the attack and, "The Iraqi Union of Journalists condemned in a statement
the assassination of Anas and called on Nineveh's Operations Command,
responsible for the security of the province, to exert every effort to
bring the killers to justice. The Union said that more than 280 of its
members and media workers have been killed since the start of the US-led
war in March 2003." In addition, Bahrain News Agency reports an al-Ramadi roadside bombing has claimed the life of 1 police officer and left three more injured. Basil El-Dabh (Daily News Egypt) observes,
"An escalation of violence in Iraq comes with a renewed effort by
Iraqi Al-Qaeda forces to energize its presence in the Anbar province. "
AFP adds
that "two people were killed and three wounded by a car bomb north of
Falluja, a police major in the western province of Anbar and Doctor
Assem al-Hamdani of Fallujah Hospital said."
On the topic of violence, Iraq Body Count counts 403 deaths from violence through yesterday. That does not include the violence noted above. The month of July ends in a few hours and it has already resulted in more deaths than in the month of June.
On the topic of violence, Iraq Body Count counts 403 deaths from violence through yesterday. That does not include the violence noted above. The month of July ends in a few hours and it has already resulted in more deaths than in the month of June.
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq
snapshot"
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