BULLY BOY
PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID
TABLE
BIT BY BIT, SLOWLY IT TURNS AND AMERICA WAKES UP TO THE FACT THAT, YES, KILLER BARRY O IS WORSE THAN RICHARD NIXON.
THIS AS KILLER BARRY PUSHES THROUGH 'LAW' AS EXECUTIVE ORDER BECAUSE HE KNOWS IT WOULD NEVER PASS CONGRESS.
KILLER BARRY WANTS TO BE PRINCESS OF THE UNITED STATES -- AND HE'S ALREADY PICKED OUT HIS PINK, SILK PANTIES.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Protests took place throughout Iraq today with Al Mada reporting the numbers participating significantly rose from last week. Hurriyet also observes, "The turnout appeared to be among the largest since the protests began in December." Sofia News Agency reports, "In Adhamiyah, a mostly Sunni neighbourhood of north Baghdad, several hundred demonstrators resumed their weekly protest under heavy security measures at the Abu Hanifa mosque, calling for the release of prisoners they say are being wrongfully held." Alsumaria reports Falluja saw tens of thousands turn out today and they took to the international highway (that connects Baghdad to Jordan) as The Voice of Russia notes. Today Reuters notes the protesters in Falluja chanted "NO" to Nouri al-Maliki. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) explains, "The main rallies Friday took place in Fallujah and Ramadi, cities that straddle the highway running through Anbar province." For a photo of thousands and thousands of occupying the highway in Falluja -- and the areas around the highway -- click on this Alsumaria page. Click here for a photo of the Falluja protest taken byThaier al-Sudani (Reuters). And AFP's Prashant Rao provides links to more photos.
Prashant Rao
Pictures of Iraq's anti-government protests in Baghdad, Fallujah and Kirkuk by @AFP photographers: http://bit.ly/WYeDRk
Pictures of anti-government demos today in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Fallujah by @AFP photographers: http://bit.ly/WDcrAB
A spokesperson for the Falluja protesters, Khaled Hamoud, tells Al-Shorfa, "Today's demonstrations are no different from previous demonstrations in terms of the demands and rights we are seeking. We hope that the government will meet them and we are determined to continue our peaceful demonstrations." Morning Star quotes from Cleric Abdul-Hameed Jadoua who addressed the Falluja protesters telling them "the blood of martyrs was shed so that the dignity of our Iraq and our tribes will be restored. [. . .] From this place, we tell the government that we do not want to see a soldier from now on, not only in Fallujah, but in all its suburbs and villages." The Christian Science Monitor and Al Jazeera correspondent Jane Arraf Tweeted the following on the Falluja protest today.
jane arraf
Pick-up trucks full of young guys with flags heading for #Fallujah in what's expected to be huge #Iraqi protest after Friday prayers.
Prayers in #Fallujah - thousands still coming in #Iraq ant-government protest - leaders appeal for non-violence. pic.twitter.com/6HSHGkBR
Kitabat notes today's protests are a tribute to the Falluja martyrs who were killed last week.
The same applies to the tens of thousands of demonstrators in Iraq, who, like their Egyptian counterparts, are protesting the killing of demonstrators by the security services as well as a wider sense that the central government is not addressing the socio-economic and political rights of all citizens with diligence or fairness. In both cases, many ordinary citizens feel that one group is trying to monopolize power and seize control of the state. The Iraqi and Egyptian leaders have both acted with an authoritarianism that remind us of their predecessors’ policies in many ways., which Arabs now wish to leave behind them for good.
Dar Addustour notes that Nouri met for six hours mid-week with armed forces commanders to discuss/anticipate today's protests. Kitabat explains that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis took part in protests today throughout Anbar Province, Kirkuk Province, Nineveh Province, Diyala Province and Salahuddin following morning prayers. Dar Addustour quotes from Sheikh Abdul Hamid Jadou's sermon where he said that the prime minister needed to hear the protesters. The Sheikh declared that positions don't last, the world does not last but God watches and Nouri needs to do the right thing. Alsumaria notes that protesters in Kirkuk marched calling for government to implement their demands and calling for loyalty to the Falluja martyrs and that the heads of the tribal clans in Anbar, Salahuddin and Nineveh Province are declaring Nouri needs to listen to the protesters. Al Jazeera reports:
Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, reporting from Fallujah, said many had walked for hours to attend Friday's protest and had turned the highway into a mosque for the weekly prayers.
"Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is under increasing pressure to listen to their demands," she said, adding that a lot of the protesters, mostly young men, were unemployed and that a lot of them have been in jail.
"They feel they've been neglected by the Shia government," she said.
World Bulletin observes, "The protests are evolving in the most serious test yet for Maliki and his fragile government that splits posts among Shi'ite, Sunni and ethnic Kurds, who were already deadlocked over how to share power for more than a year." In a report for the Christian Science Monitor, Jane Arraf explains:
The Anbar demonstrations began in December, with protesters demanding an end to perceived targeting of Sunni Muslims after the arrest of the Sunni finance minister’s bodyguards on terrorism charges. But it is the arrests of dozens of Iraqi women that have infuriated many in this fiercely tribal area. That anger has spread to Sunni areas in Baghdad and to provinces farther north, and both Al Qaeda in Iraq and mainstream political figures have been quick to join the fray.
Human Rights Watch's "Iraq: A Broken Justice System" was released yesterday and noted:
Most recently, in November, federal police invaded 11 homes in the
town of al-Tajji, north of Baghdad, and detained 41 people, including 29
children, overnight in their homes. Sources close to the detainees, who
requested anonymity, said police took 12 women and girls ages 11 to 60
to 6th Brigade headquarters and held them there for four days
without charge. The sources said the police beat the women and tortured
them with electric shocks and plastic bags placed over their heads
until they began to suffocate.
Despite widespread outcry over abuse and rape of women in pre-trial detention, the government has not investigated or held the abusers accountable. In response to mass protests over the treatment of female detainees, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a pardon for 11 detainees. However, hundreds more women remain in detention, many of whom allege they have been tortured and have not had access to a proper defense.
Despite widespread outcry over abuse and rape of women in pre-trial detention, the government has not investigated or held the abusers accountable. In response to mass protests over the treatment of female detainees, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a pardon for 11 detainees. However, hundreds more women remain in detention, many of whom allege they have been tortured and have not had access to a proper defense.
On the topic of the call to release prisoners, this call has been a constant of the recent wave of protests and was also a part of the 2011 protests. Iraqis disappear into the 'legal system' and their families can't find them. Article IV allows the security forces to arrest relatives of suspects. Relatives who are not charged with anything languish in detention centers and prisons. The Sunni population feels they are especially targeted by Nouri -- both with regards to arrests and with regards to being put to death.
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