Saturday, July 14, 2012

The Bitch-in-Chief


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

IN THE BEST TRADITION OF ALEXIS CARRINGTON, CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O GOES FULL OUT BITCHY.


AMERICA'S TOP BITCH HAS ALREADY SPENT $100 MILLION IN T.V. ADS ATTACKING MITT ROMNEY.  AND AS IF LYING WASN'T BAD ENOUGH, THE BITCH IN CHIEF IS ALSO GETTING CATTY ABOUT ROMNEY'S SINGING.


REACHED FOR COMMENT ON HIS CATTY GIRL HOTLINE, BITCH BARACK TOLD THESE REPORTERS, "OH, HONEY, I'M JUST GETTING STARTED.  AFTER I FINISH MY BRAZILIAN WAX, I INTEND TO REALLY BRING THE BITCH OUT.  MITT BETTER GET READY!"


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


 
Alsumaria reports today that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his concern over the continued political crisis in Iraq and how they hinder efforts at progress within the country.  The Secretary-General made these remarks in a report handed over to the United Nations' Security Council.  Also noting the impasse is Sheikh Abudl Mahdi al-Karbalai, a representative for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Al Mada reports  the Sheikh declared at Friday morning prayers that the Iraqi politicians are unaware of the way the people suffer.
 
As the gridlock continues, Catherine Cheney (Trend Lines via Wolrd Politics Review) offers an analysis of one of the main political players in Iraq, Moqtada al-Sadr:
 
 
Now that he is back in Iraq, Sadr is positioned to play a key role in the next elections. In the midst of a contest for power among Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites that has created political gridlock in Iraq, Sadr has joined with Kurdish and Sunni parties in opposing  Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a fellow Shiite. But he has to tread carefully to avoid alienating the devout Shiites who form his main base of support.
"The Sadr movement and its durability is something that surprised everybody at first," Duss continued. "Sadr has been written off and counted out countless times since the invasion. He has had his ups and downs. But the fact is that his movement is based upon poor urban Shiites, of whom there are many in Iraq, and as long as he is speaking to and serving that constituency, he is going to continue to have an important political role in Iraq."
 
This as Al Mada reports the Kurdistan Alliance MP Mahma Khalil  is stating that Nouri's State of Law doesn't want to solve the crisis which is why it has made one threat after another -- early elections, dissolve Parliament, dismiss Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi.  Meanwhile Iraqiya states State of Law uses intimdation in an attempt to get their way.  Dar Addustour notes that al-Nujaifi met with Nouri al-Maliki Thursday night.
 
 


Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports on how the Parliament's sessions are often televised but, even so, not everything is televised.  For example, one MP shares that they are often briefed on a bill -- whether it's legal, whether it's sound -- by specialists in the area and these briefings do not get televised.  Some bills are withdrawn and those actions are not televised.  One MP feels that everything should be before the public. Others feel there is too much information being televised while some argue that the experts and specialists appearing before the Parliament to brief them on the bills are unnecessary because the bills result form deals and agreements within Parliament and they don't need any advice with regards to that.  Kitabat notes that it was announced yesterday that 100 MPs will work on drafting a law to limit the three presidencies -- Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament and Iraqi President -- to two terms only.  Gorran (Change) the struggling third party in the KRG tells Al Mada that they have no position on the issue of term limits.
 
 
Violence continues in Iraq today.  Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports a Baghdad home bombing targeting a Lt. Colonel with the Ministry of the Interior -- he wasn't home, his parents were and the 2 are dead. AFP says only the mother died, that the frather was left injured and they note a Tuz Khurmatu car jacking where the driver of the car was murdered and his car stolen.   All Iraqi News adds that bomb attacks targeting Shi'ite mosques in Kirkuk left four people injured.  Al Mada notes the number wounded from the mosque attacks rose to five (three were police officers) and that there were at least two bombs.  In addition, they report four wounded from one family and that two rockets were fired at their home.
 
 
 
Violence can take many forms especially when Nouri remains unable to provide security.  Today it's a bomb attack, tomorrow is tainted water.  Al Mada reports Iraqiya MP Nahida Daini is calling out the promoters of "food terrorism," vendors selling food and beverages that are not safe for human consumption.  The article notes that March 23, 2011 hundreds of tons of damaged food stuffs were discovered in Diyala Prvoince.  Alsumaria reported June 30th (2012) that workers of the Ministry of Health had confiscated over 33 tons of harmful food in Kirkuk Province.
 
In addition to potential problems, there are also current health problems that Iraqis face.  One of the latest is, thus far, unexplained.  A series of people are going blind.  Al Mada reports that the Medical College of the University of Dhi Qar has issued an apology over its failure to participate in the investigation of the recent cases of blindness.  The college states it's unable to participate at this time.  Last week, Dar Addustour reported that six people in Nasiriyah, while undergoing eye exams, were exposed to some form of bacteria that is still unknown at this time but that resulted in their being blinded. The number of people who have been blinded has now risen to 9.
 
 

Today the US Government Accountability Office released [PDF format warning] "IRAQ: U.S. Assistance to Iraq's Minority Groups in Response to Congressional Directives."  According to the report, through November 2011, the US taxpayer has footed the bill for $40 million which was supposed to go towards assisting Iraq's minority population.  [The report breaks down the $40 million as follows: "According to the agencies, USAID provided $14.8 million for the 2008 directive, USAID and State provided $10.4 million for the 2008 supplemental directive; and State provided $16.5 million for the 2010 directive."]  Since Iraq's population is estimated by the CIA to be 31 million, the US government could have skipped the minority issue and given a million dollars to every Iraqi.  So the GAO just completed a 12 month audit (June 2011 to July 2012) to see if USAID was living up to the outlines of Congress' 2008 directive?

Are they?

No one knows.  USAID didn't pass the audit.  The report notes:

Our analysis of USAID documents found that USAID could not demonstrate that it met the provisions of the 2008 directive because of three weaknesses. First, although USAID reported that it provided $14.8 million in assistance to minority groups through existing programs to meet the 2008 directive, its documents could link only $3.82 million (26 percent) of that amount to the Ninewa plain region. The documents linked $1.67 million (11 percent) of the assistance to areas outside of the Ninewa plain region. USAID documents did not provide sufficient detail to determine the location of the remaining $9.35 million (63 percent).
Second, USAID documents generally did not show whether the projects included minority groups among the beneficiaries of the assistance and whether $8 million was provided specifically for internally displaced families. According to USAID officials, the agency generally did not track its beneficiaries by religious affiliation. For $14.7 million of the $14.8 million in assistance, USAID documents did not provide sufficient detail for us to determine that Iraqi minority groups were among the beneficiaries of all of the projects. Only 1 of the 155 projects ($66,707 out of $14.8 million) provided sufficient detail in its documents for us to determine that the assistance was directed to internally displaced families; however, the location of that project was outside of the Ninewa plain region. While USAID documents listed $2 million in funding for a microfinance institution, USAID officials were unable to provide detail on whether all of these loans were disbursed in the Ninewa plain region. 
Third, USAID officials and documents did not demonstrate that the agency used unobligated prior year ESF funds to initiate projects in response to the 2008 directive. USAID could document that the agency used unobligated prior year funds for two of the six programs after the date of the 2008 directive. However, according to USAID officials, the agency did not use unobligated prior year funds for the remaining four programs.


When you can't produce documentation to back up your claims, you have failed the audit.

Which is bad news for Iraq's minorities and for US taxpayers. Robert Burns (AP) notes this cost issue from the report, "A contractor was allowed to charge $80 for a pipe fitting that a competitor was selling for $1.41." There was no oversight.  There will be no oversight.  The State Dept will go before the Congress and make statements about their Afghanistan mission that will be similar to the statements they made about the Iraq mission and, unless Congress gets serious about accountability, you will see the exact same waste and fraud.
 
The State Dept is supposed to provide ongoing oversight of their own personnel. They didn't do that very well and what they found, when they did find something, usually a great deal of time had passed between the crime or violation. Laura Litvan (Bloomberg News) reports, "The agency said work by its investigators and those of other agencies have resulted in 71 convictions and almost $177 million in fines and forfeitures. Kickbacks were the leading type of criminal activity, accounting for 71 percent of indictments, according to the report."


The report notes this background on Iraq:
:


Iraq is ethnically, religiously, and linguistically diverse. Ethnically, Arabs comprise about 75 percent of the population of Iraq, with Kurds comprising around 15 percent and other ethnic groups, such as Turkoman and Assyrians, comprising the remaining 10 percent. Religiously, Shi'a and Sunni Muslims make up 97 percent of the population of Iraq, with non-Muslim groups -- such as Baha'i, Christians, Sabean Mandaeans, and Yazidis -- comprising the remaining 3 percent of the population. Some communities may be an ethnic majority but a religious minority (such as Arab Christians), while other communities may be an ethnic minority but a religious majority (such as Shi'a Shabaks). For the purpose of this report, we refer to the following religious and ethnic communities as minority groups: Anglican, Armenian, Assyrian, Baptist, Chaldean, Coptic, Greek Orthodox, Latin Catholic, Presbyterians, Sabean Mandaean, Shabak, Syriac, Turkoman, and Yazidi. 
Since 2003, Iraq's minority groups have experienced religiously and ethnically motivated intimidation, arbitrary detention, killings, abductions, and forced displacements, as well as attacks on holy sites and religious leaders. In August 2007, coordinated truck bombings killed some 400 Yazidis and wounded more than 700. In August 2009, a series of attacks in Ninewa province killed almost 100 and injured more than 400 from the Yazidi, Shabak, and Turkoman communities. In February 2008, a Chaldean archbishop was kidnapped and killed -- the third senior Christian religious figure to be killed in the city of Mosul since 2006. A series of attacks against Christians occurred in 2010, including an attack in October on a Catholic church in Baghdad that left more than 50 dead and 60 wounded. 


You may notice a major minority group not listed above.

Iraq's LGBT community.  They were not excluded from the 2008 supplemental directive and the 2010 directive should have allowed for the LGBT community.

Is the Senate failing (Senate Appropriations Committee) or is USAID?

The 2010 directive specifically was about refugee assistance and that should have covered the LGBT community.  But the US government is not doing anything to help that community.  And they get away with that and with doing nothing to protect Iraqi LGBTs from being hunted and killed in Iraq -- "hunted" is the only term for what has repeatedly taken place -- so at what point does the government get their act together?

Obviously, not any time soon.  Because this failed audit should immediately result in Senate hearings but you won't get that.  The failed audit will be greeted with a yawn as Democrats in the Senate rush to protect the White House.

Thing is, the White House should be able to protect itself.  It's Iraq's LGBT population that needs protection.

While the US does nothing, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reports, "The Dutch government has decided to grant aslum to gay Iraqis. Immigration minister Geert Leers says Iraq is no longer safe for homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders. Mr Leers has already announced a temporary halt to the deportation of gay Iraqis last month following an alert from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  The ministry warned that it was impossible to be openly gay anywhere in Iraq without being at serious risk.  The Iraqi authorities also fail to take any measure to stop discrimination or attacks on homosexuals."


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Friday, July 13, 2012

He tells you what he wants, what he really, really wants


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


WHAT A GIRL!  OUR MISS BARRY O, CELEBRITY IN CHIEF, HAS A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN DESIRE TO DRESS LIKE ANN ROMNEY, WIFE OF PRESUMED G.O.P. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MITT ROMNEY.

WHEN CONFRONTED WITH PHOTOS BY THESE REPORTERS EARLIER THIS MORNING, MISS BARRY O TOLD THESE REPORTERS HE DOESN'T REALLY CARE IF HE'S RE-ELECTED OR NOT.

"I HAVE ALREADY BEEN THE FIRST 'BLACK' PRESIDENT, RATHER MORGAN FREEMAN AGREES WITH ME OR NOT AND HE'S JUST BITTER BECAUSE AFTER DEEP IMPACT, EVERYONE CALLED HIM THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT.  BUT I'VE DONE THAT.  I'VE DONE THAT," HE REPEATEDLY SLOWLY.

"WHAT I REALLY WANT TO DO IS JUST KEEP LIVING IN THE WHITE HOUSE, YOU KNOW, STAYING IN CHARGE OF THE CHOOM GANG AND I THINK THAT BEING MRS. MITT ROMNEY WOULD ALLOW ME TO BECOME THE FIRST BLACK FIRST LADY."

WHEN THESE REPORTERS INFORMED MISS BARRY O THAT, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER HE WAS THE FIRST MIXED PRESIDENT OR NOT, MICHELLE OBAMA WAS THE FIRST BLACK FIRST LADY, HE GREW IRRITATED.

"THERE SHE GOES AGAIN, MESSING UP ALL MY PLANS.  WELL.  FINE.  FINE.  BUT -- HEY, I WOULD BE THE FIRST BLACK REPUBLICAN FIRST LADY, RIGHT?  CONDI AND BULLY BOY BUSH NEVER MADE IT LEGAL, RIGHT?  SO HERE'S WHAT LET'S DO, I'LL OFFER MITT THE CHANCE TO RUN UNOPPOSED AS PART OF MY DOWRY -- WE HAD THOSE IN INDONESIA -- AND THEN HE GETS TO BE PRESIDENT AND I GET TO BE FIRST LADY.  OH!  AND I'LL TELL HIM THAT WHEN HE DIVORCES ANN, HE BETTER GET CUSTODY OF HER CLOTHES SO I CAN WEAR MORE OF THEM!"


FROM THE TCI WIRE:

One News Now reports that the KRG is considering a "blasphemy law" and that: 



The draft bill calls for up to 10 years in prison and closing a publication for vaguely worded offenses such as "portraying the prophets inappropriately." It is expected to be voted on in the near future.
The legislation came about after the publication of an article in May 2010 that was an imaginary discussion with God that included profanity. Outrage over the article boiled into rioting that caused property damage and led to arrests and injuries.
Because it was an apparent response to a free speech issue, there were concerns that the bill would also limit free speech. Estabrooks says, "Basher Hadad, the head of the committee that's drafting this bill in Iraq, has told different news services that this is not going to be any kind of censorship," but he believes that's a total front.
By the vague nature of the bill's wording, it will do exactly that, even though people are assured that they will still be free to criticize mullahs, scholars, Islam, or the history of Islam. Estabrooks says,


Still on the issue of proposed laws, a major organization is calling out a different proposed law.   Human Rights Watch released a new report today entitled [PDF format warning] "Iraq's Information Crime Law: Badly Written Provisions and Draconian Punishments Violate Due Process and Free Speech."  From the opening summary of the report:



Iraq's government is in the process of enacting what it refers to as an Information Crimes Law to regulate the use of information networks, computers, and other electronic devices and systems.  The proposed law had its first reading before Iraq's Council of Representatives on July 27, 2011; a second reading is expected as early as July 2012.  As currently drafted, the proposed legislation violates international standards protecting due process, freedom of speech and freedom of association.






This is not a minor point and HRW connects the law with the broader attack on liberties taking place in Iraq:



Since February 2011, Human Rights Watch has documented often violent attacks by Iraqi security forces and gangs, apparently acting with the support of the Iraqi government, against peaceful demonstrators demanding human rights, better services, and an end to corruption.  During nationwide demonstrations on February 25, 2011, for example, security forces killed at least 12 protesters across the country and injured more than 100.  Iraqi security forces beat unarmed journalists and protesters that day, smashing cameras and confiscating memory cards.  On June 10 in Baghdad, government-backed gangs armed with wooden planks, knives, iron pipes, and other weapons beat and stabbed peaceful protesters and sexually molested female demonstrators as security forces stood by and watched, sometimes laughing at the victims.
Given this backdrop, the draft Information Crimes Law appears to be part of a broad effort to suppress peaceful dissent by criminalizing legitimate activities involving information sharing and networking.  Iraq's Council of Representatives should insist that the government significantly revise the proposed Information Crimes Law to conform to the requirements of international law, and the council should reject its passage into law in its present form.  Without substantial revison, the proposed legislation would sharply undercut both freedom of expression and association.


Further in, the report notes:


Among other things, the law threatens life imprisonment and large fines for those found guilty of "inflaming sectarian tensions or strife;" "defaming the country;" "[u]ndermining the independence, untiy, or safety of the country, or its supreme economic, political, military, or security interests;" or "[p]ublishing or broadcasting false or misleading events for the purpose of weakening confidence in the electronic financial system, electronic commercial or financial documents, or similar things, or damaging the national economy and financial confidence in the state."  The law also imposes imprisonment and a fine on anyone who "encroaches on any religious, moral, family, or social values or principles," or "[c]reates, administers, or helps to create . . . any programs, information, photographs, or films that infringe on probity or public morals or advocate or propagate such things."


And let's point out this under Thug Nouri.  Nouri who sued the Guardian newspaper in England because he didn't like their story on him where some officials were talking about his power grabs.  Nouri who has tried to shut down press outlets repeatedly -- most recently wanting to close a list of outlets -- which included the BBC -- because they didn't have the correct 'papers.'



Let's remember this is Nouri al-Maliki, Little Saddam.



The man who had barely become prime minister in 2006 before he was stating that reporters covering bombings were terrorists and tried to stop all coverage of violence in the country.  It's a detail that so many of the foreign (non-Iraqi) press overlooks today -- probably because they were covering something else (another country, another beat) in 2006.  This is the thug who has repeatedly targeted one news outlet after another.  One example, dropping back to November 2, 2011:

In other news, Iraq continues its crackdown on a free press. Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports:
On Monday, the Iraqi Communication and Media Commission accused al-Baghdadiya television of having a link to the church kidnappers and ordered the station to close, state television reported. Iraqi security forces surrounded the bureau of al-Baghdadiya TV in Baghdad.
Two of the station's employees were detained, according to a statement posted on the al-Baghdadiya TV website. It said the two employees had received a call from the church kidnappers demanding the release of female prisoners in Egypt in return for the hostages' freedom. The demand was later broadcast on al-Baghdadiya TV.
The station, which which is an Iraqi-owned, Egypt-based network, subsequently reported that its employees had been released.

Daily News World adds:

Al-Baghdadia, the TV station in Baghdad that said it was contacted by gunmen during Sunday's church hostage drama, has been taken off air.
It stopped transmitting shortly after its building was taken over, reportedly by a large number of government troops.
The station says its director and another employee have been charged with terrorism-related offences.
[. . .]
Al-Baghdadia – an independent station based in Egypt – says its public hotline number was phoned by the gunmen who requested it broadcast the news that they wanted to negotiate.
As the station was being taken over, it broadcast pictures of security forces surrounding the building, before the screen went blank. Transmission then resumed from al-Baghdadia's Cairo studio. The station says its office in Basra has also been taken over by security forces.
It has called a sit-in at the building and appealed to local and foreign media to attend in soldidarity.




Nouri's long pattern of attacks on the press and what appears to be at best weak 'evidence' would indicate that the station's biggest 'crime' was broadcasting news of an event that was internationally embarrassing to Nouri.  Reporters Without Borders issued a statement today which includes:

Reporters Without Borders condemns yesterday's decision by the Iraqi authorities to close the Baghdad, Kerbala and Basra bureaux of Cairo-based satellite TV station Al-Baghdadia in connection with its coverage of the previous day's hostage-taking in a Baghdad church, which ended in a bloodbath. 
Two of the station's employees, producer Haidar Salam and video editor Mohammed Al-Johair, were arrested under article 1/2/4 of the anti-terrorism law. Al-Johair was released today, after being held overnight, but Salam is still being held in an unknown location, Reporters Without Borders has learned from Al-Baghdadia representatives in Egypt.


That's Nouri and it takes the world's attention to stop him.  Grasp that.  Grasp that if this bill becomes a law, as bad as Iraq is now, it will get a lot worse.  Let's also remember this is Nouri who is waiting for the current Parliament to finish its term so he can use one MP and this is also the same Thug Nouri who tried to have Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq stripped of his post for saying Nouri was becoming a dictator.



The Human Rights Watch report notes that it threatens all Iraqis -- all Iraqis and yet the news cycle is obsessed with one defector today -- journalists, activists, everyone due to it being vaguely written and due to the harsh punishments proposed. It would threaten and intimidate free speech, a major issue in a society already struggling against a government that seems allergic to openess.



RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
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"A proposed law threatens all Iraqis"
"Time for some brave move"
"Mitt's speech"
"4 men, 2 women"
"oh, speak up, joe biden"
"Roseanne Barr's sour grapes"
"Stein's choice is Honkala"
"Romney and the NAACP"
"Talk about embarrassing"
"Big Day for the Green Party"
"Taxes and Jesse Jackson Jr."
"4 Years can make a difference"
"THIS JUST IN! HE'S LESS PRETTY NOW!"
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Thursday, July 12, 2012

4 Years can make a difference


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

LIFE CONTINUES TO BE HARDER IN 2012 THAN IT WAS IN 2008 FOR COVER GIRL AND CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O.  BACK WHEN HE WAS A FRESH AND DEWEY EYED THANG,  THE PRESS IGNORED HIS BITCHERY AND SPIN AND OUTRIGHT LIES.

NOW THAT HE'S GOT SOME MILES ON HIM -- THAT SHOW -- THEY'RE LESS ENCHANTED [LESS, NOT UNENCHANTED] AND WILL AT LEAST NOTE, AS TIME MAGAZINE DOES, FROM TIME TO TIME WHEN HE LIES THROUGH HIS TEETH IN PUBLIC.

THEY'LL ALSO OCCASIONALLY NOTE THE LEGAL ISSUES THAT QUESTION BARRY O'S PLANS.

STILL THE KOOL-AID TABLE MAINLY JUST STAYS SILENT AND IT'S LEFT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO NOTICE JUST HOW DIFFERENT 2008 BARRY O -- WITH HINT OF NIPPLE -- IS FROM 2012 BARRY O -- WITH SLUMPED SHOULDERS.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Today Alsumaria reports that Iraq's Football Association has just announced that they will be creating the first women's football league in Iraq. That's an advance for Iraqi women. June 22nd, Women's Campaign International released [PDF format warning] "Iraqi Future Search," a report on the state of Iraqi women. WCI notes:
Despite Iraqi women's increasing political, social, and economic participation, barriers to full gender equality still remain. Numerous reports have detailed the problems facing women's equality in Iraq, but their recommendations have often languished due to the enormity of the problem or lack of stakeholder buy in.
Women's Campaign International (WCI) has taken a different approach -- bringing seemingly disparate stakeholders from around the region to spend two days debating, brainstorming, and visioning a better future for Iraqi women. WCI's ALWANE Coalition two-day Future Search fostered a spirit of collabortion and understanding, empowering participants to work together to develop a common vision, identify objectives, and map out strategies and concrete action steps that will advance women's leadership and participation in every sector of Iraqi society.
From the report, we're noting the following:

On the second day, the Iraqi delegation outlined a more in-depth depiction of the trajectory of women's rights in the past 100 years of Iraq's history.
Participants listed noteworthy dates, highlighting a number of regional and national firsts for women, including: the first internationally recognized woman reporter, activist, poet, singer author, and film star, the graduation of the first women doctors, engineers, architects and lawyers, the appointment of the first woman Minister, officer, and Parliament Committee head, the first women to win internationally acclaimed prizes in journalism, architecture and writing, and the first woman Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Other historical moments captured included the beginning of the first women's movement, the publication of the first women's magazine, the drafting and passion of the personal status law, citizenship law and other constitutional amendments regarding women's rights and freedoms, the signing of CEDAW and other international conventions which advance and protect women's rights, and most recently the drafting of a comprehensive national strategy for eradicating gender based violence.
In this process, Iraq stood out as having some of the most laudable achievements in the advancement of women's rights in the region, but also having undergone some of the sharpest declines due to a turbulent past troubled with conflict, sectarianism, invasion and instability. In revisting the past, participants were better equipped to understand the present reality of women's rights in Iraq and more fully prepared to make informed decisions about the future.
We need to include that because, repeatedly, non-Iraqis feel the need to act as though they've discovered or given some great gift to Iraqi women in the last few years when the reality is the Iraq War destroyed so much for Iraqi women.
From the past that they can take so much pride in the Iraqi women who came before, they moved to the present.
* Decrease in women's presence and participation in media, journalism, and sports
* Decline in levels of health
* Decline in economic level of widows and orphans
* Decline in social rights
* Decline in scientific successes for women
* Decline in women's political participation
* Decline in leadership positions for women
* Increase in unemployment among young women
* Continued practice of customs and traditions harmful to women
* Lack of legislation advocating for women
* Low participation of women in executive and judicial branches
* Decline in women's freedom
* Decline in number of educated girls
* Decrease in the number of women Ministers from 27 to 1
Only one woman in the Cabinet. And let's not pretend Iraqi women were silent when this development took place. From the December 23, 2010 snapshot:
Tuesday, Nouri al-Maliki managed to put away the political stalemate thanks to a lot of Scotch -- tape to hold the deal together and booze to keep your eyes so crossed you don't question how someone can claim to have formed a Cabinet when they've left over ten positions to be filled at a later date. One group speaking out is women. Bushra Juhi and Qassmi Abdul-Zahra (AP) report, "Iraq's female lawmakers are furious that only one member of the country's new Cabinet is a woman and are demanding better representation in a government that otherwise has been praised by the international community for bringing together the country's religious sects and political parties." As noted Tuesday, though represenation in Parliament is addressed in Iraq's Constitution, there is nothing to address women serving in the Cabinet. Aseel Kami (Reuters) notes one of the most damning aspects of Nouri's chosen men -- a man is heaing the Ministry of Women's Affairs. Iraqiya's spokesperson Maysoon Damluji states, "There are really good women who could do well . . . they cannot be neglected and marginalized." Al-Amal's Hanaa Edwar states, "They call it a national (power) sharing government. So where is the sharing? Do they want to take us back to the era of the harem? Do they want to take us back to the dark ages, when women were used only for pleasure."
And of course the only woman is the one who's publicly declared war on women's rights and then, when the uproar kicked off, tried to backpedal it. That's not novel. That's not the unique part. Here's the unique part, she thought she could get away with it. That goes to how much damage the illegal war has done.
Iraqi women have not had the luxury to sit still during the illegal war. They've had to take to the streets to fight for their rights. They've done that repeatedly. They did while the Constitution was being drawn up. They show incredible strength repeatedly. They take to the streets in demostrations against corruption, against the 'disappearing' of so many Iraqis who just 'vanish' into the 'legal' system, against the lack of jobs, against attacks on journalists and activists and they are always ready to stand up for themselves. Dropping back to February 11th of this year:

Al Mada notes a group of women demonstrated in Iraq on Baghdad's Mutanabi Street -- a large number of women from the picture -- to salute Iraq women and the pioneering Iraqi women of the 20th century feminist movement. The women noted the widespread discrimination against women (illegal under the country's Constitution). Dr. Buthaina Sharif made remarks about how the rights of women are a cause for all men and women to share. Dr. Sharif saluted Paulina Hassoun who, in 1923, edited Iraq's first feminist magazine Layla ("On the way to the revival of the Iraqi woman"). She spoke to Iraq's long history of social progress in the 20th century and decried the violence aimed at so many women today. (The UN estimates that one out of five Iraqi women is a victim of domestic violence.) Those demonstrating had passed a list of recommendations.

1) The Constitution must be followed.
2) The government needs to establish a fund for women -- women who are widows and women whose husbands have left them.
3) Public assistance for the education of girls to prevent them from being forced to drop out.
4) Subsidies for young families which would encourage marriage and building families.
5) Better housing for women and priority on housing lists.
6) Training sessions should be opened to women and job creation should keep their qualifications in mind.
7) Double the amount guaranteed by the ration card.
8) Efforts to discredit women by sullying their names with false rumors should result in prosecution in court.
9) Freedom and unity is for all and that includes women.
10) Restore normal life by providing potable water (safe to drink) and electricity.
11) create a Higher National Committee of women and men from different backgrounds and ages

Nora Khaled Mahmoud and Mahmoud Raouf file a follow up piece for Al Mada on the demonstration noting thatit included intellectuals and activists and could said to have been prompted by the Minster for Women's recent remarks that men and women were not equal and her insistance upon dictating how women dress. The note Iraqi women spoke of women's history being a continuum of two experiences: Injustice and triumph. Women face injustice and they triumph over it. They declared that democracy is traveling around the world and that Iraq must be a good model for it. They noted that, throughout the women's movement in Iraq, women and men have taken part in the struggle for equality and that, as early as the 20s and 30s, Iraqi clerics joined in the demands for equality for all. Women, they insisted, must not lose their freedom and that this is even more clear when they hear the Minister for Women publicly declaring she does not believe in equality. While that's her opinion, the women state, that's not the opinion of alll women and it's not the opinion of the Constitution. Journalist and feminist Nermin Mufti declared that civil liberties and personal freedoms are declining in Iraq and that the Minister for Women should represent the interests of Iraqi women and seek to claim the rights guaranteed to women, not rob them of their rights little by little.
For the future, they outlined goals in a variety of areas: political sector, economic sector, cultural sector, legal sector and social sector. From the last category, we'll note the following goals:
* Draft and promote legislation that eliminates and prohibits harmful customs and traditions.
* Promote society's understanding of the distinctions between religion and certain harmful customs and practices, such as nahwa.
* Draft and promote legislation that prohibits child marriage.
* Draft and promote legislation that prohibits the compulsory wearing of the hijab.
* Promote societal support of women in political leadership roles, so they can attain equal representation without the need of a quota.
* Address the challenges facing women in marginalized and rural communities.
* Eliminate gender stereotypes that prevent women from fully attaining personal and professional goals.
* Establish a society that respects individuals for their qualifications and value rather than their gender.
The report notes:
Though participants reflected diversity in backgrounds, positions and expertise, the Future Search concluded with a unified sense of commitment towards promoting and advancing women's rights and leadership in Iraqi society. All participants have returned to their repective responsibilities with concrete objectives and action steps towards achieving the commitments made here. Iraq's future is not fixed or predictable, but this Future Search, engaging Iraq's current and future generation of leaders, sparked a renewed spirit of collaboration and steadfastness to a cause that cuts across all levels and sectors of society.
To conclude the Future Search process, each participant in attendance signed an Agenda for Action, and included a personal message of inspiration and commitment reflecting their personal connection to the advancement of women's rights and leadership in Iraq.
And many great signed statements from various Iraqi women follow but one of the best is unsigned. Anonymous wrote, "A woman should be fair, and she does not forget the suffering of her sisters when she is in a decision-making position." Another statement worth noting is from the Baghdad Provincial Council's Dr. Sabah Abdul Rasool Abdulreeda who put her statement in the form of a prose poem:
I led the revolution
I was at the front lines
I am not a shame
I am a mother, a sister, a wife, a daughter of the generous people
If you are proud that you are males
Then I have pride in my gender a thousand times more.
Moving from poem to song . . .
Beat down in the market, stoned to death in the plaza
Raped on the hillside under the gun from LA to Gaza
A house made of cardboard living close to the rail
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail
And I feel the witch in my veins
I feel the mother in my shoe
I feel the scream in my soul
The blood as I sing the ancient blue
They burned in the millions
I still smell the fire in my grandma's hair
The war against women rages on
Beware of the fairytale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail
-- "Somebody's Jail," written by Holly Near, first appears on her Show Up
I'm still marveling over the fact that a brand and corporation -- using a female to front it -- could pimp the lie that the Iraq War brought advances for Iraqi women and that Iraqi women were playing sports for the first time (click here for my gripe on that). I would hope that it's very clear that I do not think, "Oh, those poor Iraqi women. If only they could have it like us here in America where everything is perfect." It's not perfect for women in the US. If I felt that way, I wouldn't note that women can't afford Gina Chon's decision to sleep with her source who happens to be a government official. Ava and I wouldn't have spent the time noting that Bill Moyers return to public television just means another male host on PBS who can't provide an equal number of women (less than one-third of the guests on his first 20 shows were women). We wouldn't have teamed with Ann for the study of Fresh Air which found that in 2010 only 18.54% of Terry Gross' guests were women. Ava and I wouldn't write pieces like "TV: A week of hating women" if women in the US had achieved equality. Equality's far from achived -- or even legally recognized, the Equal Rights Amendment did not pass -- and the huge set back the Iraq War and the US government's decisions brought to women's rights in Iraq? I firmly believe that American woman, at any time, could suffer the same setback and have to start all over and fight the way the brave women of Iraq are doing now. And that's obviously not some rare thought on my part. That's the operating principal behind the review Ava and I wrote of the (bad) TV show Jericho and that piece has remained hugely popular -- according to Jim, it's still in the top ten most read of all the things Ava and I have written for Third. Obviously, it speaks to something (besides the need to call out bad TV). Any other week, I'd assume this was known but after this week starting with a corporation and brand thinking they could lie and claim that Iraqi women had not had sports until the Iraq War provided them with so much -- after that huge lie, I want to be really clear on that. Women struggle all over the world.
"From LA to Gaza," Holly Near is so right. And that's why Anonymous's point is so important, a woman "does not forget the suffering of her sisters when she is in a decision-making position." Still on Iraqi women, Farah Ali (IWPR) reports her organization [The Institute for War & Peace Reporting] staged a four-day seminar last month (as part of "an 18-month long initiative") offering "training in marketing and photography" for 14 Iraqi women. Al Mada notes women in Iraqi media here.



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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The deadlock


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

IN CONTINUED BAD NEWS FOR CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O, MITT ROMNEY REMAINS THE PRESUMPTIVE GOP NOMINEE BUT IS STILL NOT OFFICIALLY THE NOMINEE HOWEVER BARRY O CAN'T PULL AHEAD OF HIM IN THE POLLS. 

WITH ALL THE NON-STOP ASS SMOOCHING FROM A COMPLIANT AND SUCK-UP MEDIA, BARRY O CONTINUES TO STRUGGLE.

EVEN WHEN THE MEDIA GETS IT RIGHT -- AS ESQUIRE DOES NOTING BARRY O IS A MURDERER WITH HIS DRONE WAR -- THEY COUCH AND QUIBBLE.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Carl Hill III is the latest US service member to die from the Iraq War.  KFMB reports (video):
 

Marcella Lee: 26-year-old Army Specialist Carl Hall III was from Harbison Canyon near Alpine, where his parents still live.  Hall was injured back in November 2011 when his convoy was hit by an IED.  Hall sustained injuries to his head and more than 40 shrapnel wounds to his leg but doctors were able to save his leg with multiple surgeries.  Hall was brought back to recover in North Caroline.  His parents say he was doing well and was able to enjoy the birth of his son.  But ended up dying due from complications related to his injuries.


Elizabeth Hall:  It was the miracle of just him being able to come home.  I was there when his son was born so he seen his son born, so he was there for that.  His son was born February 23rd so he had the four months with spirit and that was pretty much what was keeping him going.

Services for Carl Hall IIII will be tomorrow, ten in the morning at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetary.  Because his death is apparently from injuries received during Operation New Dawn, the Pentagon will include him in the count for that period of the Iraq War.  Those who die of injuries received will be included in either Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation New Dawn based upon when they were injured.
 
 
 
BRIAN CASTNER: You become numb to it eventually, but I would never call it business as usual. And in fact, the post-blast mission is one that only really developed as the war went on. When I initially went through EOD school, there was no section of the training that was called post-blast investigation.  And in fact on my first trip to Iraq in 2005, the first time I did one, and I got tasked, and they said go out and do an investigation, I had to ask, well, what does that even mean? What do you want me to look for?  So as the war developed, and as the IEDs, the improvised explosive devices, became less just an obstacle to clear and were more a focus of the war, our career field developed those skills as we went.
 
GROSS: So what kind of evidence would you look for at the site of an IED explosion?
 
CASTNER: Anything that would tell you how it was made, what the target was, if there was a key identifying feature that would link it to one bomber or another, or one group or another. So that's anything from the color of the wire used to connect the battery to the blasting cap, to getting an explosive sample of the type of explosives used, to collecting the VIN number on the car, to getting DNA samples of the people who were there so maybe you could identify which one the bomber was.
 
GROSS: But this isn't like going to, like, a crime scene after the fact, where you're slowly getting evidence and putting it in plastic bags. You are going to the site of explosions, and there are screaming people all around you, and you're going through body parts, basically, like looking for evidence of what happened in the explosion.  And take one of those experiences, for us, and just describe what the experience was for you.
 
CASTNER: Right, so you get the call, and you're at your home base, at the FOB, and sometimes we wouldn't even need a call, you would see the towers of black smoke rising from downtown Kirkuk. And you know the call is coming, so you go and get ready. And you get out there as fast as you can, which is usually about 20 to 30 minutes after it went off.  And we actually didn't want the Iraqi police or U.S. forces to clean up. We needed everything there to be able to sift through. And in fact that would be the most frustrating part, is you would show up, and the loved ones would already be picking up bodies or pieces of bodies, and they're already loading on the destroyed car onto a flatbed.
And it's bad enough that you're out there doing this but they're getting in the way of you doing your job. And so extremely quickly, we could be there for 10 minutes because the longer you're there, the more chance you have to get shot at or have a mortar dropped on your head or something. So you get out, and as quickly as you can, starting at the burned-out car and then working your way out.  You just look for everything you can, and sometimes, in fact, you're looking for pieces of ordinance that haven't exploded. An artillery round will kick out, and it'll be in somebody's house a block away, and you need to grab that and make sure you dispose of it so nobody gets hurt.
 
Violence continues in Iraq.  Alsumaria notes that 1 person was shot dead in Kirkuk Province today. KUNA notes that death and reports that another Kirkuk shooting left a police officer wounded.  All Iraqi News notes an Anbar Province home bombing claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi soliders and left three more injured.  In addition, IANS reports a Baquba roadside bombing claimed 1 life and left two people injured, a Muqdadiyah truck bombing injured four people, two sticky bombings "outside Baquba" left five people injured, a Baghdad attack on a mmilitary officer left his driver dead and a Mosul roadside bombing claimed 1 life and left two people injured.
 
Meanwhile Kitabat notes that some form of poisonous gas at Lake Habbaniyah in Anbar Province is killing the fish and producing a foul smell.  A fisherman states that everything in the lake region dies: shrimp, fish and birds that eat the fish.  Currently, it's suspected that the gas is sulfur.  In August 2009, Duraid Adnan and Timothy Williams (New York Times) were claiming Lake Habbaniya was part of a "beach season"  though the lake's water was described as "muddy" and they noted people drive "their cars right onto the sand, pulling up next to the water."  The US base Al Taqqadum was located there.  And, at Militaryphotos.net, you can find video posted of Lake Habbaniya: "The vehicle graveyard at Lake Habbaniya is one of seven established during 2005 when it was decided the costs of shipping wrecks back to the US was prohibitive.  The vehicles shown have suffered hull breach, internal fire, structural failure, or are classified as 'beyond economical repair'."  Whether it's sulfur or something else, there's a good chance it didn't occur naturally but resulted from pollution.  All Iraqi News reports a fire broke out in central Baghdad today, a landfill which further threatened surrounding structures because of the failure to clean surrounding areas and everyone using it as a dumping ground. 
 
Dumping ground?  Like the political crisis?  Monday we noted:
 
Al Rafidyan reports that Moqtada al-Sadr has criticized the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate for their June 29th festivities which included bringing in performers who, his opinion, promote debauchery and immorality.  More than likely his remarks are directed at Madeline Matar who a Lebanese recording artist (click here for Alsumaria's article on her in Arabic and note the photo).  She is said to have arrived at the Baghdad concert in a presidential motorcade.  You can click here for her Facebook page. 
 
 
Could there be more to it?  Could the "presidential motorcade" have hinted at a sex scandal for Nouri? 
 
All Iraqi News reports Nouri's spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh insisted today he was being verbally attacked with rumors and stated he had spoken to both Moqtada and Nouri to assure them that the concert was just a concert and that he had no inappropriate relationship with Madeline Matter.  He insisted he has told all of his friends that this was just a malicious smear against him.
 
Why is Ali al-Dabbagh having a meltdown in public?  He's been a spokesperson for some time and, if Nouri believes him, there shouldn't be any problem.  His intense denial might indicate that there is something more here including that he might be covering for Nouri.
 
Were that to be the case, Nouri might end up taken out the way most politicians are today -- not with bullets but with sex scandals.
 
Currently, Nouri al-Maliki is trying to hold onto his post of prime minister by offering up a Reform Committee.  Mustafa Habib (Niqash) addresses some of the issues this raises:
 
 
Firstly, there are problems that have to do with agreements between the feuding political blocs about which positions certain high ranking politicians would fill; this included discussion of the vacant seats in certain important ministries, that al-Maliki was occupying in the interim.
Another involved the powers of the federal court and yet another had to do with relations between the Iraqi Parliament and the Iraqi Cabinet, or executive branch; relations were strained with Parliament and ministers often coming to different conclusions. And finally there was the problem of how to balance the demands of the Iraqi Constitution with all of the above.
Despite what appear to be good intentions, there is no doubt that al-Maliki's opponents do not trust him any more than they did before. There has been plenty of press coverage and public relations work on al-Maliki's behalf but the parties who wanted to oust him don't think he is serious about the alleged reforms.
"This call for reform is nothing more than a political manoeuvre and an attempt to gain more time," Hani Ashour, an adviser to the opposition Iraqiya coalition, told NIQASH. The essence of the current political crisis is the fact that al-Maliki has not honoured the Erbil agreement, under which he formed this government."
The so-called Erbil agreement was formulated in Erbil to end a nine month dispute over who should run the government following disputed 2010 elections. It gave al-Maliki the right to form a government if he met certain conditions and gave his electoral opponents certain high powered jobs; basically it was a power sharing deal.
The fact that al-Maliki has done almost nothing to honour that deal doesn't give his opponents much faith that he will change now.
 
 


RECOMMENDED: Iraq snapshot
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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Sometimes, periodically, Barry O's claws come out


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

IT'S NOT A GOOD TIME TO BE CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O.  THE BOSTON GLOBE CALLS OUT HIS LIES ABOUT MITT ROMNEY'S RECORD AS GOVERNOR.  BOTH CNN AND ABC NOTE THAT HE ATTACKED ROMNEY IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET PEOPLE TO STOP TALKING ABOUT ANOTHER JOBS REPORT WITH RECORD UNEMPLOYMENT. 

AND WHAT'S REALLY EMERGING IS WHAT A NUMBER OF PEOPLE PICKED UP ON IN 2008: BARRY O ISN'T MUCH OF A MAN.  HE'S A BITCH.  HE'S A LITTLE BITCH GOING AROUND ACTING BITCHY.  HE MAKES ALL THESE PERSONAL ATTACKS AND THEN WHINES IF ANYONE QUESTIONS THE FACT THAT HE ASSOCIATED WITH CRIMINALS AND WACKOS.  HE'S A LITTLE BITCH WHO CLAWS AND SCRATCHES AND THEN WHINES THAT OTHERS AREN'T PLAYING FAIR.

NO WONDER ROMNEY BEAT HIM IN FUNDRAISING LAST MONTH.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


I'd wrongly thought Tom Hayden would be wearing the dunce cap in today's snapshot.  Though he made a fool of himself, ABC News surpassed him.  Matt Negrin may have written the article (I was told he did but only by one friend at ABC News so we'll say "may have").  Whomever wrote it needs to be tested for drugs and have their resume checked.  The piece is entitled, "The Troops in Iraq: Sent Home, as Promised."
 
You really have to wonder about these whores for government who write this crap with no concern for the families of the Marines or Special-Ops and others still in Iraq.  You really have to wonder.  And today it's not just me explaining that's b.s. and the various people who e-mail the public e-mail account about their loved ones still being in Iraq.
 
No.  Today it's Rita Cook (Waxahachie Daily Light) reporting on Tim Vansyckle just returning home to Ovilla, Texas from Iraq and the joy his parents Bill and Martha Vansyckle has this weekend when they and other "family and friends gathered to cut the [yellow] ribbon on a tree that Bill says has grown during the year his son has been serving his country overseas." From Cook's report:
 
This past year was his second time in Iraq and he explains that his brigade was always there, despite the President's announcement the war in Iraq was over and U.S. troops would be returning home.  
"There were a lot of reports that every soldier left or that the last of 1st Cavalry had left," he says.  "It was pretty weird seeing stories about us being home for good when we were literally walking around Iraq."
 
It is beyond "whorish" to lie the way the media repeatedly has, it is trashy and every other term to repeatedly say "all US troops came home."  No, they damn well didn't.  And even now, US troops are in Iraq. 
 
Matt Negrin or whatever stupid moron ABC was idiot enough to hire concludes their fact-free fantasy with this:
 
In December, the last troops left, officially ending the American military presence in Iraq. However, while most of the troops returned to the United States in time for Christmas as Obama promised, about 4,000 troops in a brigade were reassigned to nearby Kuwait to complete a tour involving security and training, Stars and Stripes reported.
 
Did they report that, Moron, did they? 
 
 
Today the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released [PDF format warning] "The Gulf Security Architecture: Partnership With The Gulf Co-Operation Council." On page v., Senator John Kerry, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, notes, "Home to more than half of the world's oil reserves and over a third of its natural gas, the stability of the Persian Gulf is critical to the global economy."  Chair John Kerry has stated of the report, "The Gulf Region is strategically important to the United States economically, politically, and for security reasons.  This is a period of historic, but turbulent change in the Middle East. We need to be clear-eyed about what these interests are and how best to promote them.  This report provides a thoughtful set of recommendations designed to do exactly that."
The report may well map out that for many.  That's not what stood out to me. The takeaway for me is US troops remain in the region, right next to Iraq in Kuwait and the Committee's recommendation is that they remain present.  (For those who don't want to read the report in full or operating systems are not PDF friendly, click here for the Committee's one page explanation of the report.) 
[. . .] 
Further into the report, we get the point AP' was emphasizing this morning. AP: "The United States is planning a significant military presence of 13,500 troops in Kuwait to give it the flexibility to respond to sudden conflicts in the region as Iraq adjusts to the withdrawal of American combat forces and the world nervously eyes Iran, according to a congressional report." Page nine of the report:
 
 
A residual American military presence in the Gulf and increased burden-sharing with GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] states are fundamental components of such a framework. However, the United States must also carefully shape its military footprint to protect the free-flow of critical natural resources and promote regional stability while not creating a popular backlash.
 
 
Page 12:
 
 
Kuwait is especially keen to maintain a significant U.S. military presence. In fact, the Kuwaiti public perception of the United States is more positive than any other Gulf country, dating back to the U.S.-led liberation of Kuwait in 1991. Kuwait paid over $16 billion to compensate coalition efforts for costs incurred during Desert Shield and Desert Storm and $350 million for Operation Southern Watch. In 2004, the Bush Administration designated Kuwait a major non-NATO ally.
* U.S. Military Presence: A U.S.-Kuwaiti defense agreement signed in 1991 and extended in 2001 provides a framework that guards the legal rights of American troops and promotes military cooperation. When U.S. troops departed Iraq at the end of 2011, Kuwait welcomed a more enduring American footprint. Currently, there are approximately 15,000 U.S. forces in Kuwait, but the number is likely to decrease to 13,500. Kuwaiti bases such as Camp Arifjan, Ali Al Salem Air Field, and Camp Buehring offer the United States major staging hubs, training rages, and logistical support for regional operations. U.S. forces also operate Patriot missile batteries in Kuwait, which are vital to theater missile defense.
 
 
Get it?  ABC News doesn't seem to.  And Kuwait's not the only US military staging area surrounding Iraq.  ABC News has turned in campaigning, they haven't turned in reporting.  That 'report' is misleading at best and the network should be embarrassed to have posted it regardless of who wrote it.  I don't know what's more shocking, that someone was paid to write that garbage or that a professional news outlet posted it.
 
Equally stupid is Roberty Dreyfuss at The Nation but, then, he has an excuse -- he spent the bulk of his professional career writing for Lyndon LaRouche.  Showing just how worthless that 'training' is, Dreyfuss churns out an article with its own problems.  He recommends Susan Crabtree's Washington Times article and he quotes from it, "June was Iraq's second-deadliest month since U.S. troops pulled out Dec. 18, 2011 . . ." 
 
Uh, LaRouche Zombie, what was Iraq's deadliest month?
 
The United Nations counts over 400 dead in the month of June.  Are you aware of that? Apparently not and aren't we all lucky that you and The Nation decided to advertise your disinterest in All Things Iraq yet again. He agrees that violence is a problem and that there's a political crisis.  This is his conclusion: 
 
And here's what the Obama administration ought to do about violence in Iraq: Nothing.
 
You have to marvel over the intellectual decay at The Nation. 
 
The Obama administration ought to do nothing?
 
I guess in LaRouche Land there is only dualities and no complexities.  I thought The Nation -- the country's oldest opinion journal -- had a little bit more on the ball than that.
 
What should the administration do?  There are a host of things they should immediately be doing.  We'll throw out two.
 
1) The F-16 deal is off.  The Iraqi press in the last two weeks has been reporting that Nouri actually wants more F-16s than the deal calls for.  And, of course, they've also reported that US Vice President Joe Biden called him and told him that the ExxonMobil deal needs to go through or the F-16 deal is off. 
 
If the US government can threaten to pull the F-16 deal to help our a multi-national corporation, it can damn well use it as leverage with regards to the ongoing political crisis.
 
2)  Then there is the UN issue of Chapter VII.  Though little reported in the US press, Chapter VII is a big deal in Iraq and each year they plead with the UN to remove them from it.  Each year they just know it will happen but it hasn't so far.  The US government can ensure that it doesn't and should be doing that right now.
 
There are a host of things that the US government can do to influence the political crisis and the violence.  And the two are related, which Dreyfuss probably doesn't grasp either.  The US could pressure Nouri to follow the Erbil Agreement -- that alone would immediately effect life in Iraq. 
 
How screwed up is The Nation magazine today that they publish an article that claims the US should do nothing?  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, they've never once written a single article during any of the waves of attacks on Iraq's LGBT community.  But the reality is that there a ton of things the US government can do besides declare war or send soldiers.  How awful that The Nation now sees the US government's only power as whether or not to declare war -- how awful and how telling.
 

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