He wants a castle

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


WHILE MOST AMERICANS SPENT FRIDAY WITH THEIR SPECIAL OTHER, FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O WASN'T ABOUT TO SHARE WHATEVER ATTENTION HE HAS LEFT WITH HIS WIFE.

SO THE DAHLI BAMA HIT THE ROAD AND ENDED UP SPENDING VALENTINE'S DAY WITH THE KING OF JORDAN, KING ABDULLAH II.


REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, BARRY O INSISTED HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING, "YOU THINK GRACE KELLY WOULD STILL BE REMEMBERED TODAY IF SHE WERE JUST AN ACTRESS?  PUH-LEASE!!!!  IT'S PRINCESS GRACE THAT MADE HER ETERNALLY FAMOUS.  SO WHO'S TO SLAM ME FOR TRYING TO BREAK OFF A LITTLE OF THAT ROYALTY?  GIVE ME MY CROWN!"


FROM THE TCI WIRE:



7:30, he said that he'd be here by six
It's looking dirty, I guess he's up to his old tricks
-- "Blue Limousine," written by Brenda Bennett, first appears on Apollonia 6's self-titled album



And it appears Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and chief thug of Iraq, is up to his old tricks.

All Iraq News reports:


The administration of Baghdad International Airport received several arrest warrants and travel ban issued against several members of the Iraqi Parliament.
A source of Baghdad International Airport reported to All Iraq News Agency (AIN) ''The list of MPs included Hayder al-Mullah, Salim al-Jabouri, Ashor Haky, Raad al-Dahlaki, Qayis Shather, Ahmed Suleiman and Hussein Dakan.''
''The former Minister of Finance, Raffia al-Essawi, was among the MPs banned of travel,'' the source added, noting that ''A copy of the names of banned MPs was delivered to the Airport security.'' 

Hayder al-Mullah is a prominent critic of Nouri al-Maliki.  He is a member of Iraqiya, the political slate that beat Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law in the 2010 parliamentary elections.  Qayis Shather, Salim al-Jabouri and  Raad al-Dahlaki are also members of Iraqiya.

Yet again, Nouri is going after members of Iraqiya.  Yet again, Nouri is going after Sunni politicians.

And where is the US government?

As always when it comes to their pride and joy, looking the other way.

Since December 21, 2012, protests have been ongoing in Iraq.  Today was no different.  Iraqi Spring MC reports protests continued in Samarra and Baiji.  Alsumaria reports those protesting in Najaf called for the cancellation of the MPs pension program.  Activist Ayed al-Kaabi tells the news outlet that they reject politicians joining their protests due to the hypocrisy factor.  Another activist, Hussam al-Yas, tells All Iraq News, "The place of the demonstration at al-Sadrain square to be close to the religious authorities to that supported the public demands and rejected the privileges granted to MPs and key officials. We will continue in our efforts to end the injustice through session and seminar."


The assault on Anbar Province continues.  Mustafa Habib (Niqash) is one of the few reporters who's been able to report from inside Falluja:

Six weeks have passed since the Iraqi government lost control of the city of Fallujah. The city is now surrounded by the Iraqi army and internally it appears to be under the control of Sunni Muslim and tribal militias, although it is hard to tell exactly who is in charge.

As you near the city you see what appear to be preparations for a long battle. Barriers made out of dirt effectively block all four sides of the city. Behind them there are hundreds of armed men, some with anti-helicopter weaponry, and armoured cars.

Although the winter weather is cold – as low as 3 degrees Celsius – the militias behind the barriers avoid making fires because they don’t want the Iraqi army to be able to see their exact whereabouts.  

“When the government was threatening to invade a few weeks ago, the militants started planting improvised explosive devices around the four entrances to the city,” Saeed al-Jumaili, a resident of Fallujah, tells NIQASH.

“Houses on roads leading into the city have also been mined in order to stop any attempts to enter,” al-Jumaili says. “It’s a complicated network of mines that’s only known to a few of the militants.”

So who exactly are the militants in charge inside Fallujah? Currently what is best described as a rebel military council controls the city’s security. It is composed of various Sunni Muslim factions, most of which are armed or militant. This includes the Army of Al Murabiteen, the Asadullah al-Ghalib brigades, Hamas of Iraq and a number of other Sunni Muslim brigades. Also on the military council though are local Sunni Muslim men who once served in the Iraqi army. Apparently most of the latter do not consider themselves radical and they say they are not affiliated with extremists or Al Qaeda.    

Al Qaeda is also represented on the council though and its faction goes by the now-well-known name of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS – locally known as Daash. The only group that doesn’t seem to be playing a role on the council are local security forces, like the police.

The armed factions that are not affiliated with Al Qaeda have many men at their disposal but they don’t have as many arms. And while ISIS only has several hundred men in the city, they are well armed, well trained and battle hardened. Daash also has several dozen suicide bombers in the city.  

All up, the council has 15 members including community leaders, tribal elders and members of the various armed factions. It meets twice or more each week to discuss the security situation in Fallujah. It makes decisions by voting.  

National Iraqi News Agency reports, "Head of the parliamentary bloc of Iraqiyah Slate MP, Salman Jumaili urged the government to stop military shelling Fallujah and other cities of Anbar province, warning the government of harm consequences in case of continuation of the random bombardment which causing a real humanitarian disaster."  But that's never been a concern of chief thug and prime minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki.  Which is why violence continues today in Iraq as Nouri's assault on Anbar Province leaves people dead and yet again targets hospitals and residential areas.  NINA also notes, "MP, Ahmed al-Misari warned the secretary general of Homat al-Iraq Movement warned in a statment today of a humanitarian disaster because of the continued displacement of thousands of families from the cities of Anbar to neighboring provinces."  But while this displacement is becoming a growing concern to the United Nations, it means nothing to Nouri al-Maliki.


AFP notes, "Iraqi forces fought on Friday to retake part of a northern town and nearby areas seized by gunmen, the latest instance of authorities losing ground to militants, an official said."  This is success?

Yesterday, Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) observed, "militants took over a northern Iraq town in Salah ad Din province. Militants have tried to take over the town as recently as last year, but considering the events in Anbar, this attempt could be more serious.  Far from Anbar province, militants have taken over Suleiman Bek, where they are still in control."

Nouri can boast and beat his puny chest all he wants, but that's not success.  It is failure, it is exposed weaknesses, it is future targets should another round start up months from now.

What his assault on Anbar has demonstrated is how weak he is, how ineffective and how quickly Iraq could splinter at any given moment.

Brute force did not keep Iraq together but it may be the way to fragment the nation into a loosely held federation -- or to fragment it into a series of independent countries.

Nouri is a failure as prime minister and that was clear before his idiotic assault on Anbar but the assault has exposed just how weak he is and how his leadership has weakened the country, not strengthened it.


Yesterday, All Iraq News reported, the government banks in central Baghdad were closed and the employees evacuated by security forces.  This is success?

There is no success in Iraq, there is no success under Nouri.

There is only violence -- continual violence.




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It passes for workers' rights under Obama

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

MERCENARY FIRM TRIPLE CANOPY HAS A NEW DEVELOPMENT: THEY'RE NOW EMPLOYEE OWNED.

JUST IN TIME FOR A ROUND OF LAWSUITS, THE MERCENARY FIRM HAS NOW MADE THE EMPLOYEES LIABLE FOR ALL DAMAGES.

IN THE ERA OF THE DHALI BAMA THIS QUALIFIES AS A 'SUCCESS' FOR WORKERS.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Iraq is, at best, in a state of flux.. Do you have a question on that?  Or maybe on one of the many current crises in Iraq?  If so, an opportunity comes calling your name:


Are you curious about the political/economic relations between the U.S. and Iraq? Do you want to know more about cultural and educational programs?
Well, here’s your chance! Post your questions to Ambassador Stephen Beecroft on our Facebook page or send them to USEmbassy2014@gmail.com. The deadline for submitting your questions is March 1, 2014. We will post the Ambassador’s answers to the most popular questions on the Embassy’s Facebook page and Youtube channel.  


March 1st is the deadline.



World Bulletin News reports on the forming of the new government in the Kurdish Regional Government, "In the new government, there will be two deputy prime minister's, with one of them being from the Goran Movement. The positions of finance minister and parliament speaker will also go to the Goran Movement. However, the position of interior minister will not go to the Goran Movement after the YNK opposed it."


Chair Ed Royce:  There is just one more issue that I meant to raise with you and that's just turning for a moment to discuss inclusion of  the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the PATRIOT Act's Tier III designation -- terrorist designation.  My understanding is that this has become a sort of catch-all designation that has inadvertently mislabeled the KDP and the PUK as terrorists even though they have been a stabilizing force in the region and consistently loyal to the United States for decades.  As al Qaeda and other groups expand across the Middle East and beyond, it seems like a good time to take count of our remaining friends in the region and maybe take a look at this inappropriate designation and recognize that that's harming our very important relationship with the Kurdish people.  So would the administration be supportive of a legislative solution to this issue that would exclude these Kurdish groups from the Tier III designation

Brett McGurk:  Uh, Mr. Chairman, thank you for asking that question and for allowing me to put our response on the record. Uhm, as you said, the Kurdish people -- the PUK, the KDP -- have been among our closest friends in the region going back decades.  We think they should be removed from this list as soon as possible.  We think it is an imperative.  Uh, we understand that it requires a legislative fix.  There is nothing we can do by executive action alone.  And therefore we are 100% supportive of an immediate legislative fix to this problem and we look forward to working with you and the relevant Committees in Congress to get that done. 



That exchange is from last week when the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on Iraq. Appearing before the Committee was  the US State Dept's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran Brett McGurk.  We've covered the hearing in the February 5th Iraq snapshot, February 6th Iraq snapshot and February 7th Iraq snapshot. as well as "Prashant Rao's naive and Hannah Allem's got a grudge to f**k" which details the main themes of the hearing (and how Rao was terribly naive to believe Hannah Allem's hideous Tweets which were nothing more than her working her grudge against the Ashraf community).  We'll return to the hearing two more times in this snapshot.

Right now, we're focusing on the Kurds.

From From Monday, February 3rd's snapshot:


Friday's snapshot noted US Vice President Joe Biden's phone call to KRG President Massoud Barzani, carried the White House statement and I pointed out, "It's a shame that they [the White House] have more concern over pleasing Nouri than they do over the safety of the Iraqi citizens."  Today Rudaw reports:


Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani has postponed a planned visit to Washington this week because of other commitments, said his chief of staff, Fuad Hussein.
“President Barzani told Joe Biden (the US vice president) that because of some other commitments he couldn’t visit Washington at this time,” Hussein told Rudaw. “That is why the visit was postponed.”


That's only surprising if you weren't paying attention.  In 2012, Barazni made clear his opposition to the US giving Nouri F-16s.  And today?  Not only are those going to be handed over, helicopters and Hellfire missiles are being provided to Nouri.  And on top of all of that, Joe Biden wants to hold Nouri's hand and reassure him while telling Barzani that concessions (to Nouri) need to be made.

President Massoud Barzani is a much admired figure in the KRG and he's a leader on the world stage but Biden wants to treat like an errand boy and hand him a grocery list?

Of course, Barazni's insulted.  And that's before you get to the White House's historic betrayal of Baraniz on the 2010 US-brokered Erbil Agreement that they used Barazni's name and reputation to sell and then refused, after everyone signed the contract, to stand by it.  Yeah, it's about time Barzani put some distance between himself and the US government.

Maybe even a brief spell will force the White House to take Barzani a little more seriously?

February 6th, Ayub Nuri and Rudaw became the first to address the topic everyone else tried so hard to ignore:

Many people were baffled this week by the sudden news that Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani was not going to Washington. Barzani’s supporters said it was the Kurdish president who had cancelled the visit. Others laughed and said, “Who could cancel on the president of the most powerful country in the world?” From the US there was no explanation, and out of Kurdistan only came conflicting reports.
But who snubbed who isn’t really the issue. The real question is: How do the Kurds see America today.
Ten years ago the Kurds saw America as an ally, and America regarded them as friends. The Kurds joined America’s war and contributed to Saddam Hussein’s downfall. Kurdish Peshmarga and security forces offered the Americans intelligence, advice and guidance. Kurdish politicians and ministers went to Baghdad and put into service their two decades of experience to rebuild the Iraqi government.
What did they expect in return? A democratic Iraq that America had promised everyone. But ten years on, not only have the Kurds not seen a democratic country that respects their rights, they in fact feel it is often America -- not Baghdad -- that is acting against them.


The White House and the State Dept have seriously injured the relationship between themselves and the Kurds.  They've yet to demonstrate that they care about that damage or that they're interested in repairing what they've damaged.

In that regard, the current administration is a great like Tricky Dick's administration oh, so many decades ago.  Then-President Richard Nixon and War Criminal Henry Kissinger pretended to be the Kurds friends, pretended to care what happened to them, but they were just using them as pawns.

That is not my opinion.  That is what the US Congress found in the Pike Report.  February 16, 1976, The Village Voice published Aaron Latham's "Introduction to the Pike Papers."  Latham explained:


In 1972, Dr. Henry Kissinger met with the Shah of Iran, who asked the U.S. to aid the Kurds in their rebellion against Iraq, an enemy of the Shah.  Kissinger later presented the proposal to President Nixon who approved what would become a $16 million program.  Then John B. Connally, the former Nixon Treasury Secretary, was dispatched to Iran to inform the Shah, one oil man to another.
The committee report charges that: "The President, Dr. Kissinger and the foreign head of state [the Shah] hoped our clients would not prevail.  They preferred instead that the insurgents simply continue a level of hostilities sufficient to sap the resources of our ally's neighboring country [Iraq].  The policy was not imparted to our clients, who were encouraged to continue fighting.  Even in the context of covert action, ours was a cynical enterprise."
During the Arab-Israeli war, when the Kurds might have been able to strike at a distracted Iraqi government, Kissinger, according to the report, "personally restrained the insurgents from an all-out offensive on the one occasion when such an attack might have been successful."
Then, when Iran resolved its border dispute with Iraq, the U.S. summarily dropped the Kurds.  And Iraq, knowing aid would be cut off, launched a search-and-destroy campaign the day after the border agreement was signed.
A high U.S. official later explained to the Pike committee staff: "Covert action should not be confused with missionary work."


That is the history.  That is the root.  Deception on the part of the US.  And as the Kurds are disrespected and lied to today, the dishonest root of the original relationship becomes all the more telling.

When Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was the highest ranking Kurd, it really didn't matter.  The disrespect, the labeling two political parties as 'terrorists' (Talabani heads the PUK and Barzani heads the KDP).  But Jalal's not running anything these days.  December 2012,  Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke.   The incident took place late on December 17, 2012 following Jalal's argument with Iraq's prime minister and chief thug Nouri al-Maliki (see the December 18, 2012 snapshot).  Jalal was admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.    Thursday, December 20, 2012, he was moved to Germany.  He remains in Germany currently.

In 2012, KRG President Massoud Barzani was already outshining Jalal on the international stage -- long before Jalal's stroke.  And Barzani has never been as weak as Jalal.

Jalal was happy to dismiss thoughts of an independent Kurdistan ever happening.  He was willing to dismiss that despite the fact that Kurds fought for years to get to where they are now, in the KRG, three semi-autonomous provinces.  Jalal destroyed his own reputation over and over and was happy to dance for the US government.

Barazni wanted -- maybe still does -- a relationship -- a solid one -- with the US government.  But in 2010, after Nouri's State of Law lost the parliamentary elections to Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya, the US government used the Kurds -- lied to them and used them.  US President Barack Obama wanted Nouri to have a second term.  To go around the votes and the Constitution and the will of the Iraqi people, the White House came up with the idea of a legal contract among the political blocs which would circumvent the Constitution.  In order to get the others to sign on, they knew Nouri would have to offer them concessions in writing.  The US-brokered Erbil Agreement couldn't be sold on the US alone.  It needed the backing of a group and the White House used the Kurds and their relationship with the Kurds.  They had Barzani sell the agreement.  He never would have done that without promises from the White House that it was a legal and binding contract that had the full support of the White House.

Nouri used the contract to get his second term but refused to honor any of the promises he made in the contract (such as implementing Article 140 of the Constitution).  And when the Kurds took their issues public and joined with cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr and Iraqiya in the summer of 2011 to demand The Erbil Agreement be implemented, the White House played dumb, pretended they knew nothing, pretended they had never promised that the contract had their full backing.

This was harmful for everyone but especially upsetting to Kurdish leadership because not only was the contract not implemented but they were used -- and lied to -- by the White House.  The White House used the Kurds' standing and image to sell a contract that was worthless.

In 2012, Massoud Barzani made a public plea, even took it to US soil, that the White House not supply Nouri with F-16s.  That's been blown off as well.

And then there's the issue of the oil.  Under existing laws, the Kurds can do whatever they want with the oil in the KRG.  That's because there is no national oil & gas law.  Nouri al-Maliki promised the US government in 2007 that he would propose a national oil and gas law and get it passed shortly.  Seven years later and he never did.

So it ticks off the Kurds when the White House and the State Dept attack the KRG for attempting to sell its own oil even as the White House and the State Dept lie that they won't take sides and they're only interested in the law.

There is no national law.  The Kurds actions are completely legal but, over and over, the White House rushes to satisfy Nouri al-Maliki.

This has seriously harmed the relationship between the US government and the Kurdish government.  And Vice President Joe Biden who once had such a great relationship with Barzani (and Talabani) is no longer believed.  They're generous.  The KRG government leadership doesn't call Joe a "liar," they just argue that he does not have any power in the White House and can't keep the promises he makes.

And now Barazni won't even visit the US.

Is there anything in Iraq that the White House hasn't made worse?



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

CRAZED ROBERT PARRY -- ONE TIME JOURNALIST TURNED CONSPIRACY NUT -- CONTINUES HIS DESCENT INTO MADNESS AND CONTINUES HIS DESCENT INTO BEING A SLAVE FOR PRESIDENTIAL COCK.

PARRY BEGAN NOSING AROUND FADED CELBRITY BARRY O'S GROIN IN 2007 AND HAS NEVER REMOVED HIS FACE .

IN PART, HIS LUST FOR THE DAHLI BAMA IS PART OF HIS FEAR OF THE VAGINA.

BUT PARRY IS 100% NUTS.

REFLECTING ON FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES' BOOK, ROBERT PARRY PULLS AT HIS INEFFECTIVE PUD AND PANTS:

Gates then reported on what he regarded as a stunning admission by Clinton, writing: “The exchange that followed was remarkable. In strongly supporting the surge in Afghanistan, Hillary told the president that her opposition to the surge in Iraq had been political because she was facing him in the Iowa primary [in 2008]. She went on to say, ‘The Iraq surge worked.’

“The president conceded vaguely that opposition to the Iraq surge had been political. To hear the two of them making these admissions, and in front of me, was as surprising as it was dismaying.” (Obama’s aides have since disputed Gates’s suggestion that the President indicated that his opposition to the Iraq “surge” was political, noting that he had always opposed the Iraq War. The Clinton team has not challenged Gates’s account.)

But the exchange, as recounted by Gates, indicates that Clinton not only let her political needs dictate her position on an important national security issue, but that she accepts as true the superficial conventional wisdom about the “successful surge” in Iraq.

THE EXCHANGE IS AN INDICTMENT OF BOTH BARRY O AND HILLARY AND IF ROBERT PARRY CAN EVER STOP DROOLING AT BARRY O'S GROIN, HE MIGHT GRASP THAT.

INSTEAD, HE JUST FOAMS AT THE MOUTH AND HUMPS THE LEG OF ANYONE FOOLISH ENOUGH TO BE AROUND HIM.

HE'S ALWAYS GOT AN EXCUSE FOR BARRY O.


WHEN THESE REPORTERS ATTEMPTED TO GET A COMMENT FROM PARRY, WE FOUND HIM RUNNING IN AROUND IN CIRCLES SCREAMING, "EXTENZE! I NEED EXTENZE!  I'M DUE AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES!  I MUST HAVE MY FEATHERS AND EXTENZE!"



FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Reporters Without Borders has released their World Press Freedom Index 2014.  We'll note Iraq in a moment, but first what the report says of the United States:


Countries that pride themselves on being democracies and respecting the rule of law have not set an example, far from it. Freedom of information is too often sacrificed to an overly broad and abusive interpretation of national security needs, marking a disturbing retreat from democratic practices. Investigative journalism often suffers as a result.
This has been the case in the United States (46th), which fell 13 places, one of the most significant declines, amid increased efforts to track down whistleblowers and the sources of leaks. The trial and conviction of Private Bradley Manning and the pursuit of NSA analyst Edward Snowden were warnings to all those thinking of assisting in the disclosure of sensitive information that would clearly be in the public interest.
US journalists were stunned by the Department of Justice’s seizure of Associated Press phone records without warning in order to identify the source of a CIA leak. It served as a reminder of the urgent need for a “shield law” to protect the confidentiality of journalists’ sources at the federal level. The revival of the legislative process is little consolation for James Risen of The New York Times, who is subject to a court order to testify against a former CIA employee accused of leaking classified information. And less still for Barrett Brown, a young freelance journalist facing 105 years in prison in connection with the posting of information that hackers obtained from Statfor, a private intelligence company with close ties to the federal government. 


Ed Hightower (WSWS) reported yesterday on the administration's attack on journalist James Rosen -- an attack not noted above:

The story of this illegal spying on a journalist working for a major news outlet broke last May in the wake of a broader scandal where it was revealed that the DoJ had secretly subpoenaed phone records for 21 lines registered to the Associated Press in an effort to learn the identity of an FBI explosives expert who leaked information on the “underwear bomber” in 2012, during Obama’s reelection campaign.
The affidavit supporting the subpoena request for Rosen’s email and phone records specifically alleged that “there is probable cause to believe that the reporter [James Rosen] has committed or is committing a violation [of the law] at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator,” in part by “employing flattery and playing to Mr. Kim’s vanity and ego.”

In light of this blatant attack on the freedom of the press, attorney general Eric Holder initially tried to distance himself from the warrant affidavit. When it was later revealed that Holder in fact personally approved of the warrant application, with all its bad faith, he confessed that the media probe got “a little out of whack” in a television interview that aired early last June. In that same interview, Holder told interviewer Pete Williams that he had no intention of resigning, saying tepidly “there are some things that I want to do, some things I want to get done that I have discussed with the president and once I have finished that, I’ll sit down with him and we’ll determine when it’s time to make a transition to a new attorney general.”


Now for what the report says about Iraq:

Since 2012, Iraq has been sinking into a new cycle of violence that is an aftereffect of the chaos and civil war following the US-led intervention of 2003. Religious tension between Sunnis and Shiites is being exacerbated by the Syrian crisis and, like the constant obstructiveness of the authorities and security forces, is having a negative impact on the safety of journalists and the independence of the media. In late 2013, for example, ISIS attacked the headquarters of Salaheddin TV in the northern city of Tikrit, killing five of its journalists. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists offers "Attacks on the Press: Journalism on the Front Lines in 2013."

In a 2006 book, the late New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid summed up the future of Iraq as ghamidh, meaning “unclear” or “ambiguous” in Arabic. Seven years later, uncertainty continued to exacerbate the threats that journalists faced. Newspaper offices were attacked by unknown assailants, and journalists were threatened, assaulted, and detained. At least 10 journalists were killed in 2013, but the assailants and their motives were frequently unclear. For all the uncertainty and ambiguity, one truth remained clear: Central government officials and Kurdish regional authorities repeatedly attempted to silence critical voices through a combination of detentions, the denial of credentials, the suspension of television licenses, and raids of stations. Iraqi journalists continued to call for revisions to the Journalist Protection Law, which CPJ criticized for its ambiguous and restrictive provisions. In a sign of hope, the Iraqi parliament withdrew a draft Information Crimes bill that would have restricted online journalism. Still, with so much uncertainty and so little security, journalists continue to flee into exile, amid fears that Iraq could slide back into the dark days of civil war.

CPJ also notes, "With not a single conviction in the 100 journalist murders of the past decade, Iraq remains the worst country in the world for impunity."

Let's move over to twisted and sick people.

39.         

    • 
      
40. Nermien Riad ‏@NermienRiad 10h

    God has a great sense of humor. "Suicide Bomber Instructor Accidently Blows Up Entire Class of Islamic Terrorists." http://buff.ly/1bnvOrN 

That lunatic is trusted with children?  (She's the Director of Coptic Orphans.)  She's not only crazy, she's stupid beyond belief.  If 'God' is responsible for that bombing, 'God' is also responsible for all the others including the bombings that kill people she might like.  Is 'God' being funny and showing "a great sense of humor" then too?

Or, Nermien Riad, are you just a stupid asshole that wants to find glee in death so you'll couch your blood thirst on someone else?

Twitter, more and more, appears to exist solely so people can show just how damn stupid they are.

Back to the crazy train.

     

• 
  

1. Peter David ‏@PeterDavid_PAD 6h

   I shouldn't be laughing at death, but I can't help it. Suicide Bomb Trainer in Iraq Accidentally Blows Up His Class http://nyti.ms/1dcA77P 

   Expand     

You shouldn't be laughing at it, but you can't help it?

Could you have maybe helped yourself by not Tweeting about it.  Or is really important for someone with such an ugly face wearing such ridiculous clothes to draw attention to himself?

There are sadly many more.  Glee in the face of death is tacky enough.  As we've noted Monday and Tuesday, even worse is this notion that, because the Iraqi government says something, it must be true.  All that is known is a number of people died in bombing.  That's nothing to be gleeful about -- not even if you believe the unverified assertion that the dead are 'terrorists.'  And to bring 'God' into it?  I'm sorry, I don't know the religion that has a higher power commanding you take delight in the deaths of others.


The prayer offered below?  I think that prayer and sentiment is recognizable to many religions.

        

• 
  

islamic freedom ♻ ‏@islamicfreedom Feb 11

O Allah Make It Easy On The Peopleof Iraq Syria Libya Egypt Sudan Yemen Lebanon Pakistan Palestine Afghanistan

Expand         

One of the few journalists showing any sense is David Kenner:

80.      

    • 
      
81. 1. DavidKenner ‏@DavidKenner Feb 10

       Not buying story of Iraqi suicide bomb instructor blowing up himself/pupils until there's source other than Iraq army http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/world/middleeast/suicide-bomb-instructor-accidentally-kills-iraqi-pupils.html?hp&_r=1 …

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That's basic common sense.  Kenner has it, his peers should acquire it.


Yesterday, the Council on Foreign Relations had an event with Gen Ray Odierno moderated by CNN's James Sciutto.  Odierno was the top-US commander in Iraq

SCIUTTO: If I can, not surprisingly, would like to start tonight on the topic of Iraq. It's been a bad couple of weeks, couple of months there. You have the Al Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq, ISIS, taking over Fallujah. A thousand killed last month, 9,000 in 2013. I just want to ask your view, in light of your time there, do you think Iraq at this stage is recoverable? And do you think a U.S. force presence there, had the administration and Iraqi leadership managed to reach agreement, would have made a measurable difference?

ODIERNO: Well, first, I don't know if it's -- I mean, it's recoverable, but how long it would take to recover, I don't know. 2010, '11, we really bought time and space for the Iraqi people and the government to move forward. Security and violence was at, you know, really significant lows. But we always knew in the end, following the 2010 election, which was a very close election in Iraq, where, really, Maliki's party, who was the one that was in power, actually came in a very close second.
And so as they went through the process of the parliamentary system of building the government to take over, there was hope that there'd be great cooperation, but we realized then, as it took six to eight months to form the government, that there was going to be problems in forming the government.
So what happened is, although they had the time and space to continue -- because security was good -- to build the economy, to increase oil flow -- really, they were never able to reconcile between the different groups. And so what you saw is a continuing mistrust of the political entities within Iraq.
And as that mistrust grew, you saw other factions begin over time -- after about a two-year period -- to start to take advantage of that governmental mistrust and exploit the situation, which then created more violence. And some say Maliki came down too hard on the Sunnis, had to move more towards Iran. All of those are potential possibilities, but the bottom line is that the government in place was not able to come together in order to represent all of the Iraqi people. And when that didn't happen, they then started to revert back to violence.
And so what it's going to take is the politicians to come back together. They have an election coming up this year. And how that turns out will really probably dictate how well they move forward in Iraq.
We do know that the oil is -- that oil exports have increased significantly, so economically, actually, they're doing very well. But the violence now is driving them to separate each other. So for us, it's disappointing, because we believe we had them in a place where they could move forward.
And I believe Iraq is in such a strategic place in the Middle East -- just look at where it is on a map. It's right in the center. It's -- you know, it borders Iran, it borders Kuwait, it borders Jordan, it borders Turkey, it borders Syria. It's in such a key place in the Middle East, I thought it was very important that we would have them move forward as a stable government that is friendly to the United States. They're still friendly towards the United States, but right now, the instability in the country is very concerning to all of us as we move forward.

SCIUTTO: It sounds like you say the key is political agreement. How much of a difference would it make if there was a modest force left for...

ODIERNO: Well, I mean, I think -- the bottom line is, I think it depends on how long you were willing to leave that force there. The security forces were capable and able to do what they needed to do. Again, with political disagreement, I'm not sure how much it would matter, how much -- unless we had a significant amount of U.S. force, which was not going to happen, it was time for the Iraqis to take control of their own fate. It was time for them to provide the security. We had built a security force that had the capability to do that.

So in my mind, I'm not sure it would have made much difference if we had a small force on the ground. What it would provide is confidence. Maybe it would have allowed us to put a bit more pressure on the political entities in order for them to maybe reconcile a bit more than they did. Maybe that would have made a difference, but it's hard to say.


File Odierno's comment ("But we always knew in the end, following the 2010 election, which was a very close election in Iraq, where, really, Maliki's party, who was the one that was in power, actually came in a very close second.") under understatement of the year.  And note that Odierno, ahead of the March 2010 elections, tried to get the White House to focus on what happens if Nouri loses the election but refuses to step down -- exactly what happened.  Odierno's very modest but he deserves credit for seeing what could happen when idiots like then-US Ambassador Chris Stevens could see in front of him, let alone possibilities. We'll come back to the topic of elections.


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He's getting served

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

"WHO'S SUING ME!" GASPED FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O.

THESE REPORTERS INFORMED HIM SENATOR RAND PAUL WAS.

"BUT I AM LOVABLE!  THE WORLD LOVES ME!  WOMEN WANT TO BE ME! MEN WANT TO SCREW ME!  I AM THE MOST DESIRABLE PRISS ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET!" EXCLAIMED THE DAHLI BAMA.

INFORMED THAT HE WAS BEING SUED BY THE SENATOR OVER ILLEGAL SPYING, BARRY O INSISTED, "I ONLY PEEK IN ON RAND EVERY NOW AND THEN -- AND ONLY WHEN HE'S ON THE TOILET!  THIS IS SO UNFAIR."

FROM THE TCI WIRE:



Yesterday, we noted how NPR's lust for death and gossip led them to 'cover' Iraq.  The fact that it was gossip?  Clams by the Iraqi government cannot be verified?  That's gossip.  It's especially gossip if you try to present it as 'fact.'  Proving the gossip value, Perez Hilton blogged about the people who died yesterday in a bombing and joined the other gossip queens and kings in presenting the dead -- with no proof -- as "terrorists."

 Judy Woodruff who once objected to cooking segments on CNN decided PBS was a little stuffy for her and she needed to sling some sass too so she offered this on tonight's NewsHour (PBS -- link is video, audio and text):

In Iraq, a group of insurgents-in-training accidentally set off their own car bomb, killing 21 people. Police say the would-be terrorists had gathered near the city of Samarra in an orchard, when the bomb exploded. In addition to those who died, two dozen suspects were arrested.

She offered that nonsense yesterday.  We waited until today to call her out because I wanted to see if The NewsHour's headlines intended to note another Iraq event?  Click here for this evening, and, no, they didn't.

What item am I talking about?  What didn't they note?

How about the Monday event that the US State Dept commented on?  The only Iraq event on Monday that they commented on?  We carried the statement in yesterday's snapshot but let's note it again since gossip outlets such as The NewsHour missed it.

Press Statement

Marie Harf

Washington, DC

February 10, 2014

---

The United States strongly condemns today’s attack on the convoy of the Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Osama al-Nujaifi, in Ninewa province. Speaker Nujaifi has been a strong partner of the United States’ efforts in Iraq and we are grateful that he was unharmed in the attack.
Today’s attack exemplifies the danger terrorist groups pose to all Iraqis, and the importance of Iraqi leaders from all communities working together to isolate militant groups from the broader population. The United States stands with the Iraqi people and will continue to work closely with Iraqi political and security leaders to combat those who commit such senseless acts.

Again, we gave The NewsHour until today.  They're not real smart when it comes to Iraq and they might have missed it.  Even the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq waited until today to weigh in:

Baghdad, 11th February 2014 - The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Nickolay Mladenov, strongly condemned the attack against the convoy of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Osama Al-Nujaifi, in the city of Mosul in Ninewa Province yesterday afternoon. 

SRSG Mladenov urged all leaders to "unite against terrorism, which is affecting all segments of the Iraqi society”. 
“I also take this opportunity to call on the people of Iraq to support the security forces, local authorities and the tribes of Anbar in their fight against terrorism and to provide humanitarian support to those affected by the fighting”, he said. 
“In addition, I call on all sides to help rebuild Anbar through investment and socially inclusive policies and to address the causes of violence through dialogue and the political process" he added. 
“Finally, I wish a speedy recovery to those who were injured in this incident”, Mr. Mladenov said.

So to be clear, The NewsHour can engage in gossip -- in fact, can excel in it -- but they can't handle news?

The big news item out of Iraq yesterday was the assassination attempt on the highest ranking Sunni official in the country, Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi.

In the US, this would be the same as two assassination attempts -- one on the Speaker of the House and one on the Senate Majority Leader.  That's because there's only one house in Iraq's national legislative body.

Further news value was that the attempt took place in a Sunni-dominant province (al-Nujaifi is a Sunni) and that the governor of the province is Atheel al-Nujaifi, Osama's brother.

What PBS can't grasp, the Latin American Herald Tribune does, "Osama, Iraq’s highest-ranking Sunni politician, and brother Atheel al-Nujaifi, the governor of Nineveh, were unharmed when a roadside bomb detonated as their convoy was passing in the Al Gafran area."

There's also news value in who attacked him?

That should lead to speculation.  Not speculation presented as fact, but questions should be asked.

Osama al-Nujaifi is a very popular Sunni figure -- his political slate is fielding many candidates in the expected April 30th parliamentary elections.  Nineveh is a Sunni-dominant province.  Osama's brother Atheel al-Nujaifi is not just the Governor of Nineveh, he's the re-elected governor of Nineveh.  He's very popular which is why the US government and 'seed money' (US taxpayer dollars misused by the US State Dept) were unable to have him unseated (in Anbar, the US government was able to buy the office of governor).

So who could be behind the attack.  Press TV offers one possibility:

Iran Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani says Takfiri groups carried out the terrorist bomb attack against his Iraqi counterpart, calling on Iraqi officials to maintain their national unity.

“I suspect that perpetrators of this [act of] terror are neither Shia nor Sunni Muslims but they are Takfiri groups who have been in Iraq for a while,” Larijani told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of a ceremony held to mark the 35th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

PBS's newly branded GossipHour didn't find that newsworthy but then, more and more, they struggle to figure out what is actually news.

And when they treat death as a giggle, do the gossip mavens realize what's going on in Iraq?

I'm not talking about the ongoing assault on Anbar Province.  We'll get there but right now I'm talking about what's going on in terms of what the society's been encouraged to do.

As Nouri behaves like a blood thirty tyrant, you see echoes in Iraqi society.  You see an increasing lack of respect for rule of law and for guilt and innocence.

It is not expecting too much on any given day for US outlets to grasp innocent until proven guilty -- the notion of which is not only the basis for the US legal system but also enshrined in the Iraqi Constitution.  But when they toss that aside to have their giggles over the deaths of a group of people that the Iraqi government claims were 'terrorists,' they don't encourage rule of law or innocent until proven guilty.  Instead, they help spread mob rule and terrorism.

If no one stands up for innocent until proven guilty, how do you expect the notion to take hold in Iraq?

Shame on PBS and their GossipHour.

Moving over to the ongoing assault on Anbar Province, the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle notes:

The rising death count and stubborn refusal of al-Maliki to share power are no reason to abandon Iraq, especially after this country's legacy of involvement. Instead it's time for Washington to push hard for serious reforms that will finish a job it so clumsily began in the name of democratic change. 

It is past time for the White House and the State Dept to demand serious changes in the way Nouri al-Maliki rules Iraq.  However, the big consideration at the White House right now with regards to Iraq?  Whether or not US President Barack Obama should make a dart-in-and-out visit next month?

Barack will be in the region and there are certain elements (War Hawk Samantha Power among them) arguing that Barack should visit -- and get this for her reasoning -- to show support for 'ally' Nouri al-Maliki right before the April 30th elections.

The idea of accountability is one that escapes the blood thirsty Samantha Power.


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An affair to rumor

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AS RUMORS CONTINUE TO FLY THAT FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O IS SLEEPING WITH JAY-Z'S BEARD BEYONCE, THESE REPORTERS GREW TIRED OF THE STONE WALLING FROMTEAD WHITE HOUSE PLUS-SIZE SPOKESMODEL JAY CARNEY.

INSTEAD THESE REPORTERS CONTACTED THE FIRST LADY WHO, WHEN INFORMED OF THE RUMORS, COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING.

"YOU MUST FORGIVE ME," SHE SAID WIPING AWAY TEARS OF LAUGHTER, "BUT THAT'S THE MOST HYSTERICAL THING I'VE EVER HEARD.  AND I WAS THERE WHEN MY MOTHER MET BARRY FOR THE FIRST TIME, PULLED ME INTO THE KITCHEN AND SAID, 'NOT ONLY CAN YOU DO BETTER, BUT HONEY, I THINK HE'S GAY'."


FROM THE TCI WIRE:

From the gas bags to the journalists, if you're ever trying  to figure out just how worthless NPR can be, they demonstrated it today as Mark Memmott made clear he wants to be the new Hedda Hopper.

As he makes clear here, he never learned about reporting.  He spent his time instead on the phone gossiping.

At least 21 people died in a bombing today.  We noted it, we noted the death toll.

We didn't note that they were suicide bombers or suicide bombers in training.

But Memmott does.  He 'backs it up' by linking to AP, for example.

AP had no one present at the bombing.

It's hearsay.

It's already been established -- thought not for Memmott or any of the US press because they're so stupid and so they're deceitful -- but it's already been established that the 'terrorists' killed in an assorted aireal bombings carried out by the Iraq military were often not terrorists.

In the Arabic world, they've been more than fine with doing journalism.  Visiting the areas, speaking to the people involved, documenting it with video.

Journalism is not presenting as fact one side's claims.  Those of us old enough to remember Vietnam, are fully aware that the government -- the US government -- repeatedly lied about who got killed and the numbers killed.  It's no different than The Drone War today and all the lies US President Barack Obama and others in the administration tell about 'terrorists' -- who apparently stopped to attend a wedding, for example.

What may be known is that 20 or 21 or 22 people died in a bombing.  Who those people were?

That's the slutty US press which can never stop whoring.  Women in Baghdad die, they're "prostitutes."  That's the sort of the US press does (AFP has picked it up as well).  Dead women who can't defend themselves are labeled prostitutes and the US press treats it as gospel.

There have always been prostitutes in Iraq -- male and female.  And many outlets know it.  Certainly the Go-Go Boys of the Green Zone were frequenting Baghdad prostitutes in 2003 and 2004.

But they couldn't report on the prostitution.  One denied it.

Off Our Backs was the only US publication to treat the prostitution in Baghdad issue seriously.

NPR didn't take it seriously.  But then they rarely take issues that impact women seriously.

The disgusting Mark Memmott finds it 'cute' that people died.  He'd insist he finds it cute that 'terrorists' died.  But he can prove they were terrorists.  The only source for that is the Iraqi government.  The same government that labels peaceful protesters as "terrorists."

Memmott's never felt the need to report that either -- even though Nouri's been labeling protesters as "terrorists" since 2011.

In Iraq, a lot of people get labeled as 'terrorists.'  An Iraqi female journalist, for example, was falsely labeled as one.  And the police knew it was false.  They tortured her anyway.  Because they didn't like her articles, they didn't like her reporting on the government's short comings.

Mark Memmott has a case of the giggles today and amuses himself with Iraq.

I guess he couldn't laugh last week when Human Rights Watch's released their report entitled (PDF format warning) "'NO ONE IS SAFE: Abuses of Women in Iraq's Criminal Justice System"?

That must be the explanation for his failure to write about that.  No one at NPR wrote about it for the website.  None of NPR's national programs covered it.

But let Little Marky have the opportunity to giggle over the-gang-who-couldn't-shoot-straight 'terrorists' and he's ready to run with it.  (Strangely, when Nouri's air forces bombed and killed a group of men at the end of last week -- a group of men who turned out to be Iraqi soldiers --  Mark Memmott had no interest in writing about that.)

Mark Memmott takes the Iraqi government on their word despite the fact that journalists are supposed to question and to present claims they can't verify as claims.

I don't trust Nouri's government because, unlike Mark Memmott, I pay attention.  This is from HRW's report released last week:


The report finds that security forces carry out illegal arrests and other due process violations against women at every stage of the justice system, including threats and beatings. Israa Salah (not her real name), for example, entered her interview with Human Rights Watch in Iraq’s death row facility in Baghdad’s Kadhimiyya neighborhood on crutches. She said nine days of beatings, electric shocks with an instrument known as “the donkey,” and falaqa (when the victim is hung upside down and beaten on their feet) in March 2012 had left her permanently disabled. A split nose, back scars, and burns on her breast were consistent with her alleged abuse. Israa was executed in September 2013, seven months after we met her, despite lower court rulings that dismissed charges against her because a medical report documented she was tortured into confessing to a crime. 



Do you get what happened there?  Mark Memmott can't because he's so stupid.

But most of us can read that paragraph above and note that Israa Salah was not only tortured by Nouri's forces, she was also put to death "despite lower court rulings that dismissed charges against her."


That should outrage most people.

She was executed even after a court had determined she had been tortured to give a false confession.

She was executed even after a court dismissed all charges against her.

Most people can grasp that the woman shouldn't have been executed but instead should have been immediately released.

Mark doesn't want to tell that story because it doesn't let him giggle or suck up to Nouri al-Maliki and others in power.

It's an uncomfortable story, not a chuckle.

And more and more -- especially with their ludicrous on air 'recipe' segments -- NPR can't offer anything but breezy nonsense.

Morning Edition did not report on Human Rights Watch's investigation.  Terry Gross did not invite HRW onto Fresh Air to discuss the findings.  All Things Considered?  Nothing was considered when it came to the Human Rights Watch report because All Things Considered ignored it as well.  Diane Rehm had a whole hour Friday to fill, her so-called 'international hour' -- and yet she served up nonsense and crap and didn't even touch on Iraq.  Why do you have radio programs, public radio, when you refuse to cover investigations and human rights abuses.


Let's go to the report again:

For example, Fatima Hussein (not her real name), a journalist accused of involvement in the murder of a parliamentarian’s brother and of being married to an Al-Qaeda member, described physical and sexual torture in early 2012 at the hands of one particular interrogator in Tikrit, Colonel Ghazi. She described Ghazi tying her blindfolded to a column and electrocuting her with an electric baton, hitting her feet and back with cable, kicking her, pulling her hair, tying her naked to a column and extinguishing cigarettes on her body, and later handcuffing her to a bed, forcing her to give him oral sex, and raping her three times. “There was blood all over me. He would relax, have a cigarette, and put it out on my buttock, and then started again,” she said. 
Women who spoke with Human Rights Watch, who all explicitly denied involvement in alleged crimes, also described being pushed towards confessions by interrogators threatening to hurt loved ones. Fatima described Ghazi passing her the phone, with her daughter at the end of the line, before threatening: "I'll do to your daughter what I did to you." 



Again, the Human Rights Watch's report is entitled (PDF format warning) "'NO ONE IS SAFE: Abuses of Women in Iraq's Criminal Justice System."  Ramzy Baroud (Arab News) notes the report:

“No One is Safe” presented some of the most harrowing evidence of the abuse of women by Iraq’s criminal “justice system.” The phenomenon of kidnapping, torturing, raping and executing women is so widespread that it seems shocking even by the standards of the country’s poor human rights record of the past. If such a reality were to exist in a different political context, the global outrage would have been so profound. Some in the “liberal” western media, supposedly compelled by women’s rights would have called for some measure of humanitarian intervention, war even. But in the case of today’s Iraq, the HRW report is likely to receive bits of coverage where the issue is significantly deluded, and eventually forgotten.
In fact, the discussion of the abuse of thousands of women -- let alone tens of thousands of men -- has already been discussed in a political vacuum. A buzzword that seems to emerge since the publication of the report is that the abuse confirms the “weaknesses” of the Iraqi judicial system. The challenge then becomes the matter of strengthening a weak system, perhaps through channeling more money, constructing larger facilities and providing better monitoring and training, likely carried out by US-led training of staff.
Mostly absent are the voices of women’s groups, intellectuals and feminists who seem to be constantly distressed by the traditional marriage practices in Yemen, for example, or the covering up of women’s faces in Afghanistan. There is little, if any, uproar and outrage, when brown women suffer at the hands of western men and women, or their cronies, as is the situation in Iraq.

Is that fair?  Are feminists ignoring the report?

Feminism is global.  I can't speak for what all of the world is doing.  But for Third, we did "Editorial: War Crimes against women and the outlets that ignore them" and it notes the US coverage - or lack of it -- including:

Ms. magazine's blog never noted the report.
While Women's Media Center has a campaign which insists "Don't Let Women's Voices Be Silenced in 2014," they have thus far let Iraqi women be silenced by refusing to write an article or even a Tweet about the HRW report (and they've 28 Tweets since the report was released).
B-b-but the report just came out!
Last Thursday.  And Women's e-News has managed to cover it. Sarah Sheffer covered it for The NewsHour (PBS).
By contrast, NPR refused to cover it -- on air or at the website.
They did 'tax' themselves by re-running an AP report.
Women are tortured and raped, disappeared into prisons, their children threatened and this isn't news to Women's Media Center?
WMC makes time on their awful Twitter feed to whore for the daughter of celebrities  but they can't do a damn thing for Iraqi women?

So, yeah, in the US, there is a need to call out.

Trina was on the phone earlier and she's addressing this at her site tonight because of something she saw online -- something covered by a feminist outlet that wasn't really news but the feminist outlet still can't cover the Human Rights Watch report.

The silence in the US -- whether from the feminist press or the mainstream press -- is shameful.


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