FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O LOOKS BITCHIER EVERY DAY.
AND GROWS EVER MORE UNPOPULAR.
SPEAKING TO THESE REPORTERS THIS AFTERNOON, BARRY O BUSIED HIMSELF SMEARING VARIOUS ANTI-AGING CREAMS ACROSS HIS FACE WHILE EXCLAIMING, "LOOK AT THESE SPLOTCHES AND WRINKLES! OH, TO BE 41 JUST ONCE MORE!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Poor thug Nouri al-Maliki. He has no accomplishments to point to with pride -- despite two terms as prime minister. And yet he wants a third term.
How to pose and preen before the people before the vote?
Well he could hold a meaningless 'terrorism' conference.
Before it started, there was so much hope. Aswat al-Iraq noted days ago that this "2-day conference" was one where "invitations were extended to all world countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran"
How quickly the hopes fade. Saudi Arabia? Qatar? Tuesday brought news on those invites:
If you ever doubted Nouri al-Maliki's ability to lead, it's on full display right now. Tomorrow is the big terrorism conference that Brett McGurk's endlessly praised Nouri for. The State Dept's Brett has praised this effort to bring the region's countries together to address the issue.
But today comes the news that two won't be participating. NINA reports Qatar and Saudi Arabia have decided not to participate. This decision comes after Saturday's broadcast of Nouri al-Maliki's interview where he slammed Qatar and Saudi Arabia repeatedly. (See Saturday's "Nouri 'celebrates' International Women's Day" and "Iraq snapshot.")
He couldn't even keep his big mouth shut until after the conference.
Wednesday, the bad news for Nouri just continued with Al Arabiya News reports, "The UAE recalled its ambassador to Iraq on Wednesday in protest against Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s accusations of Saudi Arabia that the kingdom supports terrorism." Gulf Times noted:
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar
Gargash handed ambassador Mowafak Mahdi Abboud a memorandum protesting
Maliki’s “claims that Saudi Arabia supports terrorism,” the official Wam
news agency said.
“Such remarks are false and not based on a
proper assessment of the situation in the region concerning terrorism,
especially as Saudi Arabia plays a significant role in combating all
forms of terrorism,” said Gargash.
And Arab News reported, "Bahrain also strongly condemned Saudi bashing by Al-Maliki and his false accusations against the Kingdom."
Let's pause on Nouri's embarrassing failures and note what the conference came up with on their last day. NINA explains, "Baghdad first international anti-terrorism conference [. . .] recommended the conclusion of its works on Thursday to promote international cooperation, exchange of information, to respond to the demands of countries to handover of criminals, cooperation and take necessary measures to dying terrorism resources."
That's it?
A two-day conference and all they can come up with is: Exchange phone numbers?
Most people can accomplish that within ten minutes of entering a bar.
Two days to get digits on a cocktail napkin?
Even when you look for a Nouri success, you still come up with failure.
Yet Nouri's spokesperson Qassim Atta had insisted, "Baghdad conference of anti-terrorism will come out with the important results and recommendations to enhance the international desire to eliminate terrorism and to hold the countries supporting it." Kitabat delicately phrases the conclusion and results of the conference as "modest."
Sadly, even a modest term like "modest" is overly generous.
Let's note a speech -- or the press release on a speech. Click here for the speech in full by Nickolay Mladenov. He is United Nation's Secretary-Genral Ban Ki-Moon's envoy in Iraq. This is UNAMI's press release on Mladenov's speech:
Baghdad, 12 March 2014 – Special Representative of the United
Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Nickolay Mladenov, today
urged the political leaders of Iraq to put their differences aside and
work together to address the terrorist threat that seeks to tear the
fabric of Iraqi society.
At the opening of the First International Counter-Terrorism
Conference that started today in Baghdad, SRSG Mladenov noted that the
conference can send an important message to the public, “a message of
solidarity with a nation that has shown unparalleled resilience and a
continuing commitment to build a democratic state at a moment when Iraq
stands at a crucial cross-road on its journey towards stability and
prosperity”.
“Iraq will either succumb to violence, or come together and build a democratic state that protects human rights and is inclusive for all its citizens”, said Mr. Mladenov, adding that “finding ways to put an end to terrorism will not be easy, some difficult decisions will have to be made – but together the Government and people of Iraq, with the support of the international community, can find ways to do so”.
Mr. Mladenov expressed the United Nations’ deepest sympathy to the Iraqi people for the terrible toll that they endure on a daily basis and honored the brave men and women of the Iraqi Security Forces who risk their lives every day to protect citizens from the threat of terrorism.
He underlined that “the concept of human rights is one of the greatest assets in finding sustainable solutions to countering extremism and terrorism as well as the full community involvement in decisions relating to their security”. “Any comprehensive approach would be incomplete if it were not matched with broad political dialogue, inclusive economic and social policies and community reconciliation”, the UN Envoy noted. He also highlighted the utmost importance of “investing in police and security forces that have appropriate resources and are appropriately trained, while respecting the rule of law and human rights, in particular regarding arrests, detentions and trials”.
Moving beyond the national level, SRSG Mladenov stressed that only within the framework of constructive regional and international cooperation, fight against terrorism can succeed. He reminded the audience of the establishment in 2005 of the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) saying that “through this Task Force the UN can assist Iraq in promoting its ability to contribute to the international effort to counter terrorism and implement the four pillars of the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy”.
In concluding, Mr. Mladenov assured the Iraqi people that they were not alone and that “UNAMI and the United Nations in Iraq would continue to work with them and their elected representatives in promoting political dialogue and investing in its biggest resource, its citizens”.
“Iraq will either succumb to violence, or come together and build a democratic state that protects human rights and is inclusive for all its citizens”, said Mr. Mladenov, adding that “finding ways to put an end to terrorism will not be easy, some difficult decisions will have to be made – but together the Government and people of Iraq, with the support of the international community, can find ways to do so”.
Mr. Mladenov expressed the United Nations’ deepest sympathy to the Iraqi people for the terrible toll that they endure on a daily basis and honored the brave men and women of the Iraqi Security Forces who risk their lives every day to protect citizens from the threat of terrorism.
He underlined that “the concept of human rights is one of the greatest assets in finding sustainable solutions to countering extremism and terrorism as well as the full community involvement in decisions relating to their security”. “Any comprehensive approach would be incomplete if it were not matched with broad political dialogue, inclusive economic and social policies and community reconciliation”, the UN Envoy noted. He also highlighted the utmost importance of “investing in police and security forces that have appropriate resources and are appropriately trained, while respecting the rule of law and human rights, in particular regarding arrests, detentions and trials”.
Moving beyond the national level, SRSG Mladenov stressed that only within the framework of constructive regional and international cooperation, fight against terrorism can succeed. He reminded the audience of the establishment in 2005 of the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) saying that “through this Task Force the UN can assist Iraq in promoting its ability to contribute to the international effort to counter terrorism and implement the four pillars of the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy”.
In concluding, Mr. Mladenov assured the Iraqi people that they were not alone and that “UNAMI and the United Nations in Iraq would continue to work with them and their elected representatives in promoting political dialogue and investing in its biggest resource, its citizens”.
We'll note the speech in another entry -- in full -- but it's too long for this one.
It's the only speech which will get significant attention because UNAMI has released it. It won't get significant attention due to journalists hearing it in person.
See, another of Nouri's failures with this two-day conference? The press.
Ghazanfar Laibi (Al Mada) reports that journalists were prepared to cover the conference in depth but were kept out and one of the reasons given was security snags leading one journalist to call the conference the most poorly organized and worst he'd ever attended. And while kept out of the conference proper, they were given press releases with meaningless data and access -- in an area described as "a narrow box" -- to file reports in a room with no internet lines or connections. State TV, controlled by Nouri al-Maliki, Al-Iraqiya broadcast fluff. That's not surprising, Deborah Amos wrote a paper on how Nouri used Al-Iraqiya to campaign in 2010 -- to illegally campaign -- in the parliamentary elections.
Kitabat explains that while every other news outlet -- Iraqi and foreign news outlets -- was prevented from entering the main hall of the conference, Al-Iraqiya was allowed to enter and to interview various participants. Ghazzanfar Laibi adds that one journalist -- not with Al-Iraqiya -- explains that not only were the journalists prevented from entering the conference to observe it but 'photo ops'? They were all given one minute to take photos. (All except Al-Iraqiya which roamed freely.)
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