He can't stop lying

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


AFTER BARRY O'S UNCLE WENT ON HIS DRUNK DRIVING SPREE AND GOT ARRESTED AND AFTER IT WAS REVEALED SAID UNCLE HAD BEEN REPEATEDLY TOLD TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY BUT REFUSED, THE WHITE HOUSE STATED BARRY O HAD NEVER EVEN MET THE MAN.


THING IS SAID UNCLE JUST TOLD A JUDGE BARRY O LIVED WITH HIM FOR THREE WEEKS AT THE END OF THE 80S.

THE CELEBRITY IN CHIEF HAS ALREADY BEEN CAUGHT LYING ABOUT 'IF YOU LIKE YOUR PLAN, YOU CAN KEEP YOUR PLAN.'  NOW THE WORLD DISCOVERS HE ALSO LIES ABOUT FAMILY.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Yesterday, Alsumaria noted, Nouri gave some of his empty remarks he's so famous for and posed at a meeting with over 16 women -- only one of whom didn't wear a veil or hijab.  Nouri insisted, in front of this group of women who were a delegation from the Council of Iraqi Businesswomen, that women make real contributions and strengthen and advance nations.  Here's a photo from the photo op that was posted to Nouri's official website.






That's beyond stupid, that State of Law and Nouri think that meaningless photo-op amounts to anything is beyond stupid.

Nouri sitting around a table with women will only remind Iraqi women that Nouri's second Cabinet included no women to start with.  In fact, the Minister of Women?  That was (male) Hoshyar Zebari for months before Nouri found a woman who was willing to stand up in public and insist that women's rights would lead to victimization of women and that a woman should just do what some man told her.

Let's talk money because money is one of the things that prompted the photo op.

What brings in big money to Iraq besides oil?

Right now, outside of the KRG, big money's really only comes in as international aid.

And most of that money requires basic human rights be observed in Iraq.  A government -- not the US -- explained to Nouri that some of his aid from their western country was in jeopardy due to the way Iraqi women are being systematically stripped of their rights.

It was thought that he needed to make some sort of a 'statement' in order for Iraq to continue to receive various grants.

It was also thought that Nouri should speak out against violence.

That was too much for Nouri even when the government official pointed out that others already had.

Let's drop back to last week for this from the November 26th snapshot:

Back in March, Rania Khalek (Muftah) noted it wasn't always women under attack in Iraq:

Contrary to popular imagination, Iraqi women enjoyed far more freedom under Saddam Hussein’s secular Ba’athist government than women in other Middle Eastern countries. In fact, equal rights for women were enshrined in Iraq’s Constitution in 1970, including the right to vote, run for political office, access education and own property. Today, these rights are all but absent under the U.S.-backed government of Nouri al-Maliki.
Prior to the devastating economic sanctions of the 1990s, Iraq’s education system was top notch and female literacy rates were the highest in the region, reaching 87 percent in 1985. Education was a major priority for Saddam Hussein’s regime, so much so that in 1982 Iraq received the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) award for eradicating illiteracy. But the education system crumbled from financial decay under the weight of the sanctions pushing over 20 percent of Iraqi children out of school by 2000 and reversing decades of literacy gains. Today, a quarter of Iraqi women are illiterate, more than double the rate for Iraqi men (11 percent). Female illiteracy in rural areas alone is as high as 50 percent.
Women were integral to Iraq’s economy and held high positions in both the private and public sectors, thanks in large part to labor and employment laws that guaranteed equal pay, six months fully paid maternity leave and protection from sexual harassment. In fact, it can be argued that some of the conditions enjoyed by working women in Iraq before the war rivaled those of working women in the United States.

BBC News has a photo essay entitled 'In Pictures: Women At Risk In Iraq."  Umed Sami (Kirkuk Now) reported Sunday that it is Domestic Violence Awareness Week which actually lasts two weeks and that there are many different actions because there are "20 women's rights organizations in Kirkuk."  From the article:


No to Violence against Women is a women’s rights organization founded by a group of women’s rights activists back in 2010.  It is one of the organizations planning to organize a protest rally on November 25 in front of the governor’s office as they protest against the poor conditions of women’s rights and their struggles.
In the meantime, the Kurdistan Women’s Union, a women’s organization affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party of Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim, is a member of the political bureau boycotting the activities of No to Violence against Women and who view their rally as an “opposition against the governor and not demanding the women’s rights.”
Women’s activist Naska Muhammad told Kirkuk Now “The majority of the women’s rights organizations have boycotted the rally as we feel it is more targeted against the governor and it is politically driven.”

The Kurdistan Regional Government noted the kick off on Monday and that Monday was International Day Against Violence Against Women (that's a United Nations day around the world).  KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani addressed a large group of men and women -- including ministers of government, MPs in the Iraqi Parliament and the Kurdish Parliament, regional official and diplomats --  in Erbil.  Barzani noted that violence against women is violence against human rights and the issue is not a 'women's issue' but one for the entire community to work on.  He called for justice which means changing the laws in the KRG so that the light penalities for husbands killing wives are eliminated (he noted the KRG law currently mirrors the law for the rest of Iraq).  He noted that they need to address the issue of child brides and the practice of female genital mutilation.  He cited figures finding that reported violence against women had fallen in 2012 but he stated that the gains were not enough and the community needed to work harder to address the issue.

Iraq's Human Rights Ministry also had an event.  Compare the photos.  Even if you can't read Arabic, you'll note many things.  For example, the Baghdad turnout?  Not that impressive in terms of numbers. The KRG photo displays ten packed rows of attendees (and the photo cuts off with the impression that there are rows not displayed in the photo).  In Baghdad, they take up about six rows -- with a lot of empty spaces.  In the KRG, you see shiny, healthy hair on the heads of men and women.  In Baghdad, most women have their hair covered.  (Four brave women on the second row do not cover their hair.) Nouri's Prime Minister of Iraq.  Did he address the gathering?

Nope. 

He couldn't be bothered with the topic.  

Ibithal al-Zaidi was present.  Declaring she (now) believes in equality between the sexes -- based on the law and religions.   Whatever.  

How important was the event?  

They don't even bother to finish the press release -- it cuts off before the end of the release.

Nouri should have been present.  By refusing to show up for the Baghdad event, let alone speak at it, he made clear that violence against women does not qualify as a serious issue to him.

We're not done with the KRG yet.  Al Mada reports that KRG President Massoud Barzani issued a statement decrying violence against women saying it was inhumane and against the basic principals of humanity.  He noted the sacrifices and actions Iraqi women had taken part in to create a better Iraq and called for rights to live safely and free from oppression, discrimination and violence.

He is supposedly the leader of Iraq.  The two-week "week of violence against women" is continuing.  Yet the leader of the country has never denounced violence against women.

He's never called it out.

And under pressure from a foreign government, the best he could do was assemble a group of women for a photo op in his attempt to ensure that no foreign aid gets cut off.

The e-mail from the State of Law MP accused me of being part of a conspiracy to destroy Nouri al-Maliki.  I'd argue Nouri's doing such a good job destroying himself that nobody else needs to take part, we just need to step back and enjoy it.

Al Mada reports women activists gathered Sunday at a cemetery in Sulaymaniyah province to note that 130 graves in the cemetery are of women who were killed in so-called 'honor' killings.  These 130 graves do not even contain the names of the women because 'honor' killings weren't enough apparently, the women had to be disappeared.   Hannah Xuan, one of the organizers, told Al Mada that the women were killed by family and that few people are ever prosecuted for these brutal crimes.


Yet Nouri stays silent about violence against women.




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