Someone feels ignored

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

CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O HELD A PRESS CONFERENCE YESTERDAY TO ANNOUNCE THAT HE WASN'T GETTING ENOUGH ATTENTION AND THAT HE WANTED TO CONTINUE "BITCHY WARS" AGAINST THE REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS.

BUT MAINLY BECAUSE HE WASN'T GETTING ENOUGH ATTENTION.

BARRY O TOLD THE PRESS THAT THE G.O.P. NEEDED TO STOP TALKING ABOUT SUSAN RICE.  "THEY SHOULD GO AFTER ME!" WHINED BARRY O.

MAINLY BECAUSE HE WASN'T GETTING ENOUGH ATTENTION.

IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT HIM. 


FROM THE TCI WIRE:

 

Today Iraq was yet again slammed with bombings.  In a month of violence that had already seen 80 die so far through yesterday (Iraq Body Count's count), bombs left many dead and injured.  It didn't look like it was going to be that kind of day to the security forces and Nouri's government.  Early this morning in Baghdad, Alsumaria was trumpeting the fact that 3 members of al Qaeda in Iraq had surrendered outside of Ramadi.   How quickly it all changed.

 

Wang Yuanyuan (Xinhua) offers, "The deadliest attack occurred in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, when four car bombs killed a total of nine people and wounded some 32 others, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity." Al Rafidayn also calls that the deadliest attack of the day.  When the press is ranking the day's attacks, you know it's a day of deadly violence and Deutsche Welle adds, "The violence comes a day before Muharram, the Islamic new year."

Jane Arraf (Al Jazeera) reports, "In Kirkuk, a city disputed between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, there were at least three car bombs: one against the offices of a major Kurdish party, one targeted a Turkmen party office, and another that hit a major road.  That was in addition to car bombs in the city of Hilla, a Shia town.  And one here in Baghdad that targted an army general [General Qassim Nouri -- Prensa Latina reports that the general's bodyguard was killed in the bombing].  All in all, these seem to be the major targets that have been frequent targets of violence: security forces, Shia and, increasingly, political parties in Kirkuk."  All Iraq News says 9 people were killed and thirty-eight were injured.  Shukriyah Rauf tells AFP, "My child was killed! His friends were killed! There is no security hear, our homes were destroyed!"

 

Alsumaria notes that an assassination attempt took place in Kirkuk with a bombing targeting the Governor of Diyala Omar Humairi as he was entering Kirkuk Province from the south.  He was not harmed and security forces swarmed the area.  On the Baghdad bombing, Alsumaria reports it was outside the Ishtar Sheraton Hotel in Firdos Square and, in addition to claiming 1 life, and left four other people injured (Mohammed Twafeeq reports on the hotel bombing for CNN),  a bombing in Wasit Province, just north of Kut, near a restaurant claimed 3 lives and left fifteen injured. while a mortar attack near a Falluja gravel plant left three workers injured.  BBC News offers a photo essay of the Kirkuk and Baghdad bombings here.  AFP has a photo essay here.  Yasir Ghazi and Christine Hauser (New York Times) have a good article on the day's violence.


On the Hilla bombing, Reuters quotes city official Hamza Kadhim stating, "A car bomb exploded near a secondary school for girls and a crowded poultry market, leaving four dead, including innocent students.  It's a real vicious terrorist act."  Press TV adds eleven female students were left injured in the attack.  All Iraq News reports the bombing left over 12 dead and over sixty injured. 

The US press largely ignored Mosul.   All Iraq News, citing a security source, reports a Mosul bombing injured a military officer and this took place at the University of Mosul where, here's the disturbing part, security forces closed all doors to bar students and faculty from leaving a campus they thought under attack.  All Iraq News updates the story to note the officer held the rank of Captain and was evacuated to the hospital before the security forces began closing the doors (and trapping students and faculty on a campus with bombs).   In addition, two other bombs were found inside the university (they were disarmed), one at the entrance to the Faculty of Science office.  All Iraq News notes that another Mosul bomb - a roadside one this time -- targeted a military patrol and left seven people (five were soldiers) injured -- this one the US press did cover.

 

And then they lost interest.  Even though the violence continued.  Alsumaria notes a Nineveh Province barber shop was attacked leaving 3 police officers dead and two civilians injured, an armed clash at a Nineveh Province checkpoint that left 1 police officer dead, and 1 person died and twelve were left injured via stoning at a residential project to the north of Najaf.

 

So much of the violence is not reported. For example, today Lauren Williams (Daily Star) reports a rape that took place last month which led to a father killing his 14-year-old son -- neither the rape nor the murder ("execution") of the 14-year-old garnered attention from the press in October:

 

When a young boy was raped by a member of rival tribe last month in the city of Ramadi, in Iraq's vast Sunni heartland of Anbar province, tribal authorities were called on to settle the situation.

Fourteen regional tribal sheikhs convened an emergency judicial session and delivered a swift, unanimous verdict.

The perpetrator was sentenced to immediate execution at the hands of his father, to avert any further retributive violence.

 

 

 

Amnesty International's UK office issued the following:

 

 

Amnesty International has condemned a wave of bomb attacks across Iraq that has reportedly killed at least 14 people on the eve of the Islamic New Year.

The deadliest attack took place in the northern city of Kirkuk, where, according to media reports, four bombs planted in parked cars went off simultaneously, killing at least nine people and wounding scores more.

Meanwhile in the mainly Shi'a southern city of Hilla, a car bomb reportedly exploded near a school and a crowded market, leaving at least four people dead, among them schoolchildren.

Explosions were also reported in the capital, Baghdad, and in the town of Balad Ruz, in the province of Diyala. The attacks appear to have targeted both Iraqi civilians and members of the security forces.

Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Director Philip Luther said:

"Deliberate attacks on civilians can never be justified.

Such attacks show utter contempt for humanity and must be roundly condemned.

"We urge the Iraqi authorities to conduct a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation.

"Those suspected of being behind the attacks must be brought to justice in proceedings that meet international standards of fairness, and without the imposition of the death penalty."

 

 

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